More applications rejected than accepted in Chandigarh

One wall of the Canadian visa office in the northwestern Indian city of Chandigarh is plastered with things like fake death certificates, doctors’ notes, fake bank notes and transcripts from colleges that never existed.

The wall is known as the ‘wall of shame’ to the staffs and reminds what immigration minister Jason Kenney described as a tough job of the five immigration officers as they have to separate valid applicants for visitors’ visa to Canada from those who are unlawful and produce fake documents and claims.

Kenney said that he was ‘floored’ when he discovered the extent and frequency of fraud happening in Chandigarh through immoral document vendors, counterfeit artists and fake immigration consultants who charge thousands of dollars from people to help put together visas that ultimately get rejected by immigration officers who are becoming wise to fakery with experience.

In the first nine months of 2008 in Chandigarh, more number of people had their applications for temporary visas rejected than accepted. Specifically, 9,781 applications for temporary visas to Canada were rejected and 8,641 applications were accepted, which shows a rejection rate as high as 56 percent, disclosed immigration department figures. In contrast to Chandigarh, the rejection rate in New Delhi was just 19 percent, where more than 53,000 applications were processed during the same period.

There are only two visa processing centres in India, one in New Delhi and one in Chandigarh. However, there are nine centres throughout the country where people willing to get a visa can drop their applications.