How To Evidence Gathering for Visa Application?

Immigration is a life changing event. Following this how-to list on how to handle evidence gathering for visa application or a green card renewal application, it will save you a lot of time afterwards.

Visa Application

Cloud Management

In evidence gathering for visa application everything starts in evidence management on the cloud

1. It’s better to do it in the cloud because once you are ready, you can share it with your immigration attorney, and you can both work on the same documents to save time and increase efficiency.
2. Open a folder in the cloud and call it simply “Evidence”
3. Open a doc and write all the categories you qualify in as main bullet points. Call it “Evidence 1”
4. In sub bullet points, add any event, letter, article, book, achievement, prize, ceremony, degree, patent, and add them under the right point.
5. Open a second doc and call it “Video descriptions”

Social media

1. Your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, blog) carry many of your events and memories. Go through all your photos. It will remind you where you were over the years. Ask yourself if the event in the photo helps as evidence.
2. Download any photo that qualifies as evidence, and put it in the right cloud folder.
3. Find and copy any link to any article, any online video, any mention of your name online that can qualify as evidence. Paste it into “Evidence 1” doc under the right place.

Email

1. All this evidence gathering will probably remind you of things you’ve forgotten you’ve done, places you’ve been, and things you’ve done. Email evidence collecting is the same.
2. Invitations: If you’ve lectured in places, or been asked to write an article, or perform in any way- Go get the invitation letter from your email. Save the email as PDF, and upload it to the right folder in the cloud. Collect invitation letters religiously.
3. Thank you letters: You’ve done something great like a lecture or anything else and got a thank you letter in the mail. Save this email as PDF, and upload it to the right folder in the cloud.

Videos

Videos as part of evidence gathering for visa application:

1. All the videos you collect will need a description that you are going to write in the “Video descriptions” doc.
2. First line is the link to the video, and a date.
3. Second thing would be a short paragraph of what is in this video. Paragraph means 3-4 lines of text explaining what this video is, what’s the big picture, and how you’re connected to all of this.
4. After you’ve finished collecting all the video description paragraphs open a subfolder for each event.
5. Upload any photo, pdf and anything else connected to this event you found on video.
6. Open a new doc and give it a relevant name.
7. Copy paste each “Video description” paragraph separately to each videoy
8. Yes, it creates duplicity.
   

Web pages

1. Convert every relevant web page that mentions you to PDF. If you are using Google Chrome, Open any web page inside Google Chrome, press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P if you are on a Mac) to open the Print dialog and change the destination printer to “Save as PDF.” Hit the Print button and the current web page will instantly download as a PDF document.
2. If this web page is not in English, copy all the text, paste it in Google Translate, and paste the English translation into a new doc, in the same folder as the PDF you just created.
3. Call the doc “Translation: name of the doc”

Thank you letters

1. Get in touch with all the relevant people who invited you to give a lecture, a seminar, a talk.
2. Ask them to write you a short thank you letter.
3. If you can provide them some relevant template of a thank you note, they will appreciate it that you saved them the time
4. Remember to ask them to add the relevant date.
5. Collect thank you letter religiously.
   

Recommendation letters

1. Open a new folder and call it “Recommendation letters”
2. Open a new doc
3. Name all the people who have agreed to write and sign a recommendation letter for you.
4. Add their Linkedin / Wikipedia / blog address.
5. Copy paste or write a short 1-2 bio paragraphs about each of them
6. Write a paragraph about how you know each other, what is the context of your relationship, what you did together, how you’re connected, what achievements you got together.

If you need any help or have any question about evidence gathering for visa application, please  contact us