Canadian Immigration dept. concerned over increase in fake marriages
by Harleen Kaur - December 3, 2009
Ottawa, December 3: The trend of going for fake-marriages by an increased number of would-be immigrants has made the immigration department a worried lot.
The fake marriages are being used as a tool by immigrants for getting marriage visas, and they might be criminally organized, fear the immigration officials.
The Assistant Deputy Minister of Immigration of Canada, Claudette Deschenes, revealed before a House of Commons committee, saying, “It’s a trend that we’re starting to see and the department is concerned that there is organized fraud around the movement.”
While replying to Olivia Chow, a New Democrat MP, who has been inquiring about the reason for a high refusal rate (nearly 50 percent) of spousal applications especially from countries including Hong Kong, China and Western Africa, Deschenes said that the trend seems to be an organized movement.
“We‘re looking at that. It’s a new trend, but we are concerned that it’s an organized movement,” asserted Deschenes, when asked by Chow whether a high refusal rate was, in any way, linked to the attempts to gain illegal immigration by people.
The Immigration Minister of Canada, Jason Kenney, said the issue of fake marriages by numerous would-be immigrants to get into Canada is an issue of great concern. Hence, it is on the radar of the government and being monitored by the Canadian government.
“Globally we don have a problem of marriages of convenience, commercialized, fake marriages to get into Canada,” quipped Kenney.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, will be leaving for China today. Whether the discussions on his visit to China will focus on the global issue of fake marriages or not, is yet to be unknown.
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