New Democrats demand immediate change to CIC’s spousal sponsorship policy

New Democrats have demanded Immigration Minister for immediate changes to CIC’s current spousal sponsorship policy, which allows officials to deport the spouse if their application decision is delayed beyond the allowable grace period of 60 days resulting in separation of married couples.

Last week, New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) has brought a motion into the Parliament to stop the deportation of spouses sponsored by Canadians. The motion was adopted by the Parliament’s Immigration Committee and it will be debated in the House of Commons following voting by all MPs in the spring.

"Instead of wasting resources to track down spouses of Canadians who are not guilty of any wrong doing, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) should focus more on deporting the criminals," says Chow. "Before, a spouse could be deported during the application process even though they are being sponsored by a Canadian. Now, this will not happen."

The wording of Olivia Chow’s motion is as follows:

That the Committee recommend that the government allow any applicant (unless they have serious criminality) who has filed their first in-Canada spousal or common law sponsorship application and the accompanied permanent residency application to be entitled to an automatic stay of removal and a temporary work permit until a decision is rendered on their application.

"This practice was cruel and wasteful of public dollars. When an applicant had to file paperwork all over again while overseas, it delayed the family being reunited," said the New Democrat’s West Coast Citizenship and Immigration critic, Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). "I am glad that common sense prevailed at the Immigration Committee. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, let’s hope Immigration Minister Jason Kenney can bring love back to these needlessly divided Canadian families by enacting a small change in policy."

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.