A recent study has brought to light the worrying amount of misrepresentation on Canadian visa applications.
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10 January 2012
Canadian visa applicants flouting new immigration laws
A Canadian federal anti-fraud unit has revealed that 22% of Chinese applicants misrepresented their credentials on new Canadian immigration rules passed in 2008.
The rules were implemented as part of Bill C-50, which was intended to streamline the Canadian immigration system and make it more responsive to Canadian economic needs. The bill allowed the government to prioritise its selection of economic immigrants in line with which particular roles were required by Canadian business.
However, recently released studies have shown that the rules have been repeatedly exploited by almost a quarter of all Chinese applicants with many applications containing exaggerated or misrepresented education or experience claims.
The authors of the recently released study reported that there are "serious problem with the validity of the job offers" in the arranged employment offer (AEO) which facilitates the majority of these visa applications.
The study tallies with the Canadian government's own analysis carried out at the Canadian anti-fraud unit in Beijing which revealed that between 2008 and 2010, more than one in five applicants misrepresented their own credentials.
The highest margin of misrepresentation came from 'financial auditors and accountants' where over 40% of applicants lied about their experience when in actual fact, in most cases the applicants were simply cashiers or bookkeepers.
According to governmental statistics, over 30,000 Chinese nationals entered Canada in posession of a valid Canada visa during 2010, a figure which accounted for almost a third of the total of permanent residents allowed into Canada.
The study was obtained through the Canadian Access to Information Act by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland who said the report shows that understaffing in foreign Canadian missions was to blame for the high rates of misrepresentation.
"It's China, it's Pakistan, it's Africa, and it's because some countries of the world do not have western democratic institutions issuing reliable paperwork. It's that simple," said Kurland.
The Conservative Canadian government has been quick to acknowledge concerns with any bogus Canadian visa applications, particularly those processed as part of the arranged employment offer (AEO) and that the report's findings highlight a continuing problem, created during former minister Diane Finley's term, which needs to be addressed.
A spokeswoman for current Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the Canadian Harper government has "done more than any government in Canadian history to crack down on all types of immigration fraud and strengthen the integrity of Canadian citizenship".
"We are aware of this issue and are concerned" continued the spokeswoman, "that is why we are currently reviewing options to strengthen the AEO process to prevent this fraud from taking place in the future".
The Canadian Visa Bureau is an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people make their application to the Canadian Embassy.
