05-06-2013
Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism announced last Wednesday that the federal government will revoke the Canadian citizenship of 1,800 people who obtained it fraudulently. These cases have been the result of a 2 year investigation between the RCMP, other police agencies, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. According to Canadian Immigration experts, this number is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fraudulently obtained Canadian citizenships.
The Citizenship and Immigration Department will continue new investigations into this issue with the assistance of police to discover more fraud cases. Investigation and proof will lead to revoking more citizenships and getting fraudsters out of the country.
There have been many cases where lawyers and consultants have been asked to cheat of behalf of would-be clients. “They don’t want a lawyer, they want a co-conspirator,” Toronto lawyer Sheldon Robins said. “They all have the same story. ‘I came to Canada, I spent an hour and half here, I went back and I want to become a citizen.” Robins has had to turn many would-be clients away, it would be foolish to jeopardise everything some immigration lawyers have worked for by committing immigration fraud.
A Canadian passport is one of the most respected passports in the world. To maintain its reputation as a world renounced travel document, Passport Canada has introduced the new ePassport. The majority of people who commit immigration fraud do not desire to be Canadians or to live in Canada, they just want the flexibility and security of owning a Canadian passport.
Immigration lawyer Gary Segal said he believes that probably around three or four per cent of all newly admitted immigrants obtained their documents through fraudulent means. However, the actual number of existing fraud cases or newly admitted fraud cases is impossible to tell. Though it is important for the Government to discover and penalize those who wrongly obtained citizenship, they must be careful not to include new immigrants who have a proper reason to be out of the country.
FWCanada is a Montreal-based immigration law firm that provides professional legal services on Canadian immigration. For more updates and tips on Canadian immigration, visit www.canadianimmigration.net. Don’t forget to like FWCanada on Facebook and follow the firm on Twitter.
