In my last post, I touched on some of the significant
changes currently taking place in Canadian immigration. Today I would like to
discuss some newer modifications which have been implemented to address the
issue of marriage immigration fraud and which could potentially have
ramifications for many Canadians.
Every
country selects its determining factors for allowing new persons to enter into
its borders and assume ‘permanent residence’ there. For some countries, the
criteria may be based upon one’s ethnicity and/or religion, such that those
bearing the fore-mentioned common qualities are accepted ‘home’ with open
arms, no questions asked. For another state, it may be whether one has an offer
of employment in the host country. And so it goes with each distinct
jurisdiction.
The most
conventional route to immigrate to Canada is traditionally based on merit
i.e. demonstrating to the immigration authorities that one possesses the
necessary merits to join our Canadian community. Thus, a would-be immigrant
would complete the requisite immigration applications and provide enough
information, in order to ‘convince’ the government that s/he has the ‘right’
education; work-experience; age; language; familial situation and so on. If
s/he has enough points to pass the basic threshold, the government could then
conclude that this person is sufficiently meritorious and s/he would then be
invited to live in our glorious nation.
As the
rules go, the prospective applicant must apply for immigration from his/her own home country (once
again — but of course! — subject to exclusions). As you all know by now, immigration
may take a long long time and during that period, immigration-hopefuls are not
permitted to study or work in Canada (unless they get authorization,
which I can assure you, is no walk in the park).
Basically,
Canada’s attitude here can be summed-up as follows: ‘Stay
at home and complete your immigration application in your home country. In the
meantime, continue with your life, have children, plant vegetables in your garden if you want
to and go ahead, re-decorate that guest-room which you have always put off from
completing. But please please, don’t hang around our country getting nervous
and anxious and antsy waiting for our answer, which when you are hanging-on,
sitting on shpilkes [needles], makes you feel like the kettle will never ever boil! No,
no, no, we would much rather prefer — and actually, really, we quite insist,
really — that you stay put at home. In due time, when we’ve figured out what to
do with you and we are in a better position to provide you with a definitive
answer, we’ll call you! And if it’s a go, welcome to Canada!’ That’s more-or-less their
attitude with a bit of dramatization on my part, without actually putting those
words in their mouth.
Empirically
speaking and truth be told, I submit that this is a reasonable approach. During
my years of practice, I have met people who have mistakenly put the immigration
cart before the horse, so to speak — they have effectively left their lives, homes
and jobs in their native countries and have moved here — without properly
taking into consideration a small, itsy-bitsy minor trivial detail, namely:
their LEGAL STATUS IN CANADA! Simply stated: one cannot merely move here as a
‘visitor’ and expect to complete an immigration process while ‘visiting’.
I disclose
to you that it can be especially heartbreaking to meet with such people. These
are almost always good good people who have received bad bad advice! Canadian employment
is not and would not be forthcoming because they very often do not have the
necessary authorization to work and frankly, for many, it would be near-impossible
to receive it legitimately. As it is, authentic new immigrants to Canada have enough of a challenge finding
employment in Canada due to the often-touted mantra of
‘sorry, no Canadian experience!’ — imagine what it must be like for a
not-yet-immigrant with no papers at all!
And with
regard to studying in Canada, depending on the anticipated place
and field of study, fees for foreign students can easily be double or triple
what it would cost a Canadian permanent resident or citizen, all but excluding
that option for many.
This immigration
methodology is particularly compelling in view of the news which we recently
heard from Immigration Canada about the clearing-out of thousands of backlogged
files. Imagine if all of those applicants had already been established in Canada for years and years, only to be
told that they would not be permitted to stay and would be required to return
to their home countries.
Ultimately,
it may just be for the best when these immigration candidates wait for the
resolution of their Canadian immigration files in the comfort of their own
territories.
One major
exception to the rules of a) not requiring to prove any ‘merit’ in order to
immigrate to Canada; and b) being authorized to proceed with an immigration
application while still in Canada is the case of spousal sponsorship.
Basically,
the government’s policy is that if a Canadian permanent resident or citizen
marries someone who is neither, then the former has the right (subject to
conditions) to ‘sponsor’ the latter. Yes, while s/he is in Canada and again, bingo, without having to
show any merit on their part.
I believe
that this approach is one generally assumed by almost all countries.
It’s just seems pretty normal and pretty obvious. Could you ever imagine it
being otherwise?! Would you dare to somehow envision a situation where the
government says ‘sorry, but your intended spouse does not have enough education
/ work experience / language skills / and so on and is thus precluded from
entering Canada? There would be an uproar (and not
many people looking for spouses outside Canada)!
And
conversely, just to stretch this a bit, what would happen if the Canadian permanent
resident or citizen would then also not have enough points to get into his/her future
intended’s native country. Would we subsequently end up with married couples
living in different countries, unable to move to each other’s country to live a
common life??! Definitely, an untenable and unimaginable state of affairs.
Consequently,
if the sponsor has basically been a good boy or girl — again subject to
conditions and exceptions — and there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate
that the marriage bond is sincere and genuine, then s/he is permitted to bring
his/her spouse (also subject to certain rules) back to Canada and start the
spousal sponsorship application in Canada.
We all
know what a great and friendly country Canada is. Yes, accommodating but hardly
foolish! Indeed, even though Canada’s spousal sponsorship does not rely
on a merit-system, allowing in fact, spouses to join our team just by virtue of
the fact that they have married one of our team members, this does give the
participants a free ride!
This is
where the ‘sponsorship’ of ‘spousal sponsorship’ kicks in — in
order to be processed accordingly, the sponsor must agree that s/he will be
responsible for the basic needs of the sponsoree, as well as agreeing to being
on the hook to reimburse the government for any sums received by the sponsoree,
should s/he ever receive social assistance or ‘welfare’ from the government.
This ensures that the Canadian public at large will not be left holding the bag
and footing the bill for expenses which the sponsor should have been
responsible for and should have rightly assumed.
This
obligation extends for three years from the date of receiving permanent
residence.
Sponsor:
you have to take care of your own.
With
spousal sponsorship, if all of the conditions are met, it is really one of the
smoothest and best opportunities to gain entry into Canada. It’s almost a slam-dunk — a
foreigner marries a Canadian and s/he is allowed to participate in the wealth
and opportunities that this great country offers.
Sadly, the
draw of this process also bears its drawback.
Ah…the motivations
for which people marry, there are many! Not for us to judge, most marry for
emotional attachment; to build a family and companionship; but there are also
those who do so for physical, financial and personal security. People marry at
all stages of the life-cycle and each age-zone brings with it its own
particular needs and concerns, which the bonds of marriage idyllically address,
soothe and remedy.
And in the
eyes of the Canadian government, as long as the marriage is genuine and binding,
there apparently is not much of an interest in the underlying explanation and incentive
for the marriage. Whatever or why ever — you’re married, it’s for real, mazel-tov
and have a great life.
Where the hairs
do get raised real tall on the government’s bureaucratic back is when foreign persons
marry Canadian permanent residents or citizens solely for the purpose of
gaining a facilitated entry into Canada. This is where Canada draws the line.
There have
been more than a few stories of dishonest and criminal foreigners who have
taken advantage of Canada’s benevolence and of their spouse’s
affections, by marrying exclusively for the reason of easy entry into Canada.
As just
one example, there was recently a story in the news of an elderly gentlemanly
BC man, who met a European woman through an internet dating service. After a
positive communication stream for several months, they finally married and she
came to Canada to live a life of wedded bliss with
her new-found Canadian husband.
At least
that is what he mistakenly desperately wanted to believe. Truthfully however,
the minute that she received her permanent resident status, she left her husband.
Lacking any viable language or life skills, or perhaps not caring either way,
she went on welfare as her preferred form of sustenance and that is where she
remained.
The
saddened and humiliated husband appealed to the government to repeal her
permanent residence status, as her true motives surfaced and became crystal
clear. However, working within the framework of the then-law, and as per the
sponsorship agreement with the government, she was able to continue to live off
the hog and Mr BC was held liable for nearly 100 000$.
Alas, without
being cocky, this story-line is unfortunately a dime-a-dozen. There may be many
permutations and variations of the finer details, but they always lead down the
same road to a tale of a wily unscrupulous foreigner taking advantage of an
obliging Canadian and our generous government policies.
To address
this inconsistency, the Canadian government recently introduced legislation to
tackle this area of Canadian vulnerability.
Effective
25 October 2012, sponsored spouses or partners in a relationship of two years
or less and who have no children in common at the time that they submit their
sponsorship application, must now live together in a legitimate relationship
with their sponsor for two years from the day which they receive permanent
residence status in Canada. Until that time, the permanent residence is considered to be only
‘conditional’. If they do not remain in the relationship for two years, then
the ‘conditional’ permanent resident status may be revoked.
After the two-year
trial period, the conditional status evaporates though one year of the sponsorship
obligation remains still in effect.
The
Minister of Immigration has also confirmed that spouses would not be required
to stay in a relationship where there was evidence of abuse and/or neglect and
that a subsequent severance of the marriage would not necessarily entail a removal
from Canada.
Furthermore,
in March 2012, Immigration Canada introduced a new measure that would disallow
new permanent residents from sponsoring a spouse for five years from the date
which they become permanent residents. Thus, even if a divorce were to ensue
after two years, the new immigrant would be held back from sponsoring a
different person.
Will these
measures bring about the desired effects? Only time will tell. Certainly, at
the very least, these new regulations bring us Canadians more in line with the United Kingdom, US and Australia, who all use some form of
‘conditional’ status as a deterrent to marriage fraud.
As an
aside, I’ve often wondered how CIC immigration officers view the arranged-marriages or 'controlled-dating'. Some couples meet for several times before
becoming ‘official’ and then marry in a fairly short period thereafter. Others
get engaged after meeting one or two times and have a lengthy engagement
period. How do these different models of courtship and marriage appear to those
officials whose job it is to verify and validate these relationships? I believe
that ultimately it is very important when submitting a spousal sponsorship
application, that it be a perfectly crafted, tight and exact application to
avoid later complications and disappointment.
Law is
dynamic. It modifies, it evolves and hopefully improves. We can only anticipate
that these new rules will relieve any victims and potential victims of any
wrongdoing.
If you
have any questions regarding this article and or spousal sponsorship
applications, or if you believe that you or someone you know may have been a
victim of immigration marriage fraud, kindly do not hesitate to communicate
with me at the provided coordinates.
Wishing
you and yours Happy Holidays!
