Canada cracks down on spousal sponsorship applications to fight wedding fraud abroad

After reports showing a surge in fraudulent marriages and use of devious tricks by foreigners to gain entry to Canada, federal government has finally decided to crack down on spousal sponsorship applications.

While fraudulent marriages and marriages of convenience are not a new phenomenon, the issue was taken seriously by the department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) few days earlier when "rent-a-guest" marriage scam was caught in New Delhi visa office. During a probe, officials began to notice that the same guests were inexplicably turning up at different weddings in photos that had been submitted as supporting evidence for sponsoring foreign brides and grooms to Canada. Upon further investigation, immigration officers then discovered that several local Hindu temples were setting-up wedding ceremonies for immigration purposes and offering rent-a-guest services replete with garlands and traditional wedding finery arranged by unscrupulous consultants. In 2004, Indian police have also arrested a serial-matchmaker who had been duping women of large dowries after "marrying them" off to his brothers in Canada.

Furthermore, many fraud cases involve a Canadian with good intentions who sponsors a spouse in a foreign country, only to later be betrayed once the new couple arrives in Canada. But immigration officials have also noticed an increase in phony marriages in which both parties are willing conspirators.

To tackle the issue, CIC is now sending investigative teams around the world, especially to high-fraud regions such as India, China and Vietnam, to gather intelligence on staged marriages. The investigative team, said to be made up of five undercover investigators, is a new tool for potential prosecution against the Canadian collaborators.

Additionally, the department has quietly been ramping up its training programs for immigration officers and a staff anti-fraud manual has been updated. A survey and a case assessment tool have also been created to help the regional offices identify gaps.

Meanwhile, the federal government has begun an information campaign in immigrant communities to inform them about this attack on the credibility of Canada’s immigration system and the destabilizing effect that fraudulent marriages have on their community. This campaign also warns sponsors that they will be on the hook financially if their new spouse flees and applies for social assistance.

The legislators of ruling Conservative party have also recently floated a controversial discussion paper to overhaul existing overseas marriage laws. A working group has been formed for this purpose with Canadian lawyers that will try to figure out whether legal changes are required to tackle marriages of convenience as well as how to crack down these.

While many immigration lawyers agree something must be done to prevent phony marriages, they fear more government scrutiny may result in genuine marriages being rejected as fraudulent. A good-faith marriage or an arranged-marriage based on cultural traditions of many nations could be a victim of any such change in immigration laws. These marriages usually lack a period of courtship, which could make it difficult for immigration officers to know whether the marriage is legitimate.

More than 20,000 people enter Canada as new immigrants each year in the spousal category. Just-married foreigners can enter Canada within nine months and gain permanent resident status immediately. In so doing, they are able to bypass skill requirements and queues for economic-class immigrants that can involve waits of up to six years.