Montreal man to be deported to Pakistan
CBC News Posted: Dec 1, 2012 4:29 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 1, 2012 4:44 PM ET
Sami Sheikh walks with his five-year-old sister in 2009. Sheikh and his two sisters were originally granted a stay, but now the Immigration Canada says that he must move to Pakistan. (CBC) Facebook

Immigration Canada is planning to deport a 24-year-old man to Pakistan, even though he was granted a stay in 2009.

Sami Sheikh has lived in Montreal since he was 12 years old.

He was born in Dubai, but says that Montreal is all that he knows.

Sheikh’s parents are from Pakistan and were deported from Canada three years ago.

Sabir Mohammed Sheikh and his wife, Seema, lived with their family in Montreal for eight years but lost their refugee status for lying on their application. They failed to mention that they had been living in Dubai for 20 years before arriving in Canada.

At the time of his parents deportation, Sami and his two sisters were granted a stay to remain in Canada. But now the federal Immigration and Refugee Board has ruled that he has to move to Pakistan.

“Because my parents omitted that information, it will always stay attached to me, even though the judge says Canadian immigration is supposed to evaluate us on ourselves,” Sheikh said.

He is hoping the government will intervene before he gets his deportation date in the coming weeks.

Once in Canada, the asylum seekers are freed in most cases from detention while their asylum claims are pending, a process that can take years. At the same time, they are eligible to receive public assistance benefits.
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Gypsies+take+complicated+route+through+Europe+Mexico+seek/7658225/story.html#ixzz2EJBiHgxu

Gypsies take complicated route through Europe, Mexico and US to seek asylum in Canada
By Wilson Ring And Rob Gillies, The Associated Press December 6, 2012 11:20 AM

In this Nov. 14, 2012 photo, Miguel Begin, the chief of operations for the Canada Border Services Agency’s Stanstead sector, stands at the Canadian port of entry in Stanstead, Quebec. Canadian immigration officials on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 said a Romanian smuggling ring has been bringing Gypsies into the U.S. through Mexico in order for them to eventually gain asylum in Canada. Over the past year, cars loaded with ethnic Roma asylum seekers have run the border between Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

DERBY LINE, Vt. – A Dodge Caravan with California license plates and a dozen passengers zipped across the border between Vermont and Quebec in October, heading north in a southbound lane unblocked by traffic.

Border agents could only watch as the van disappeared into Quebec. But the vehicle and its occupants didn’t try to disappear.

About 22 miles later, they stopped in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Magog, Quebec, and asked someone to call the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. When the Mounties arrived, the Gypsy occupants of the vehicle applied for political asylum.

“It’s as though they had it programmed into their GPS,” said Magog police spokesman Paul Tear.

That may not be far from the truth. Canadian authorities announced Wednesday that they had broken up a circuitous but ingenious human smuggling ring that shuttled Romanians from Europe to Mexico and across the U.S. to the famously porous border between the twin communities of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec.

Interviews and statistics gathered by The Associated Press in the weeks before the announcement revealed that the Romanians are largely ethnic Roma people, or Gypsies. Canadian officials say many of the immigrants move to Toronto and Montreal, which have large Roma communities.

“Quite frankly, we really haven’t seen anything like this in our immigration system before,” Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said at a news conference Wednesday in Stanstead.

The Roma are descendants of nomads who moved out of what is now India 800 years ago. They speak a distinct language, a variation of Hindi. They have faced centuries of oppression in Europe that many advocates — and some countries, like Canada — say continues today. They have been forcibly resettled through the ages and were imprisoned and executed in concentration camps during World War II.

A 2004 agreement between the U.S. and Canada in how the two countries deal with asylum seekers is driving the latest migration, experts told the AP.

If the Romanians were to present themselves at a Canadian border post, they would be refused entry and told to seek asylum in the United States, which has more difficult requirements and where asylum seekers are not eligible for welfare benefits.

Romanians seeking to enter the U.S. or Canada need pre-approved visas. They do not need visas to enter Mexico.

Once in Canada, the asylum seekers are freed in most cases from detention while their asylum claims are pending, a process that can take years. At the same time, they are eligible to receive public assistance benefits.

The appeal of the border crossing between Derby Line and Stanstead, as opposed to other points along the thousands-mile-long border with Canada, is apparent.

The two towns are separate only in name and country — otherwise, they are essentially one community. The border runs through yards and buildings. Until recently, people could freely walk across quiet residential streets to visit neighbours in another country.

Since Sept. 11, many of those streets have been blocked off and people required to pass through the border posts before visiting the other country. It’s not entirely clear how Derby Line and Stanstead became the focus for Gypsies, but until repeated crossings like the one in October led the Canadians to beef up security on their side, agents didn’t have the resources available to their American counterparts.

In 2010, 85 people crossed the border illegally at Stanstead, according to statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency. In 2011, that number rose to 168, and so far this year, it is 260.

Gina Csanyi-Robah, the executive director of the Roma Community Center in Toronto, said before Wednesday’s announcement that she was aware of the border crossings between Vermont and Quebec only because of media inquiries. She doubted it was an organized smuggling system.

“This community works by word of mouth. So if you have one family going and finding it safe to claim asylum, you can guarantee there will be 10 families behind them, the relatives, the friends. And those 10 families are going to tell another 10 families each,” she said.

For the Roma in Canada, life is less oppressive than elsewhere, but she said she believes the Canadian government is changing its immigration policies with the specific intent of excluding Roma. Aside from the government policies, Roma have been well received in Canada, she said.

Canadian officials said many arrived indebted to a criminal organization and in some cases engaged in crime to pay back the smuggling debts. Twelve have been charged since arriving in Canada.

Thirty of the irregular arrivals have been arrested under newly enacted immigration laws that allow for the mandatory detention of those suspected to have arrived in Canada via smugglers, Kenney said.

Kenney declined to identify their ethnicity but said the groups of Romanian nationals illegally crossed into Canada between February and October.

Kenney noted that Canada has one of the most generous immigration systems in the world but said it won’t tolerate those who abuse it or cheat it to jump the queue.

“We are sending a strong message to those who are thinking of using the services of criminal human smugglers to sneak their way into Canada: Don’t do it,” Kenney said.

Roma communities are known for their insularity, and authorities did not make any asylum seekers available for comment.

The funnel points along the Mexican border have shifted. In 2010, most Romanians were apprehended in the Tucson, Arizona, sector; in 2011, it was split between Tucson and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In 2012, the Imperial Valley of Southern California became the favourite crossing site, with 509 Romanian apprehensions there so far this year.

Statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that 384 Romanians were apprehended along the Mexican border in fiscal year 2010, 575 in 2011 and 901 in 2012. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have noticed the spike.

The agents apprehending them know they are dealing with Gypsies, said Lauren Mack, ICE San Diego spokesman. And they are aware the Romanians are headed to Canada.

“We have noticed and are aware of an increase in the number of Roma who are being smuggled into the United States and are concerned about it,” she said.

In the October crossing in Stanstead, Nicholas Dostie, the tow truck driver hired to take the California van back to the border, said the men, women and children were carried back in a caravan of Mountie cruisers.

Once at the border, officials said, the Gypsies began the process of applying for asylum.

Though it seems like a long detour to go from Europe to Mexico and across a continent to reach asylum, Csanyi-Robah said she could understand the pull.

“For people that are desperate for something,” she said, “it’s not a long route for a better life.”

___

Gillies reported from Toronto.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Gypsies+take+complicated+route+through+Europe+Mexico+seek/7658225/story.html#ixzz2EJAvwizz

Efforts to boost security on the Canada-U.S. border brings a bad case of insecurity to a famously laid-back border town.

Stanstead hot spot for people smuggling
Border guards nab illegal immigrants
By TOBI COHEN, Postmedia News December 6, 2012

The Opposition accused the government Wednesday of turning a grave border-security problem into a showcase for its tough new refugee laws.

The criticism came after the government announced that it was rounding up 85 migrants who crossed into Canada illegally on five separate occasions with the help of human smugglers. The smuggling took place between February and October.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney travelled to the Quebec border crossing in question to reveal that the migrants had, for the first time since the new Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act was adopted in June, been designated as “irregular arrivals.”

The designation means that any smugglers among them could face mandatory minimum sentences and increased fines if convicted. Under the new laws, migrants over the age of 16 could also face detention while authorities establish their identities and ensure they are not inadmissible on criminal or other grounds.

Should any of them be denied asylum, the new provisions would make it easier to deport them. Irregular arrivals who obtain refugee status also face a conditional permanent residency for five years and are barred from sponsoring family members for five years.

“With today’s designation, our government is sending a strong message that we will take decisive action against those who would profit illegally from criminally exploiting and violating our immigration system,” Kenney said during a news conference at the border crossing in Stanstead, about 160 kilometres southeast of Montreal.

“We’re also sending a strong message to those who are thinking of using the services of criminal human smugglers to sneak their way into Canada. Don’t do it. Don’t even try.”

The NDP’s deputy public safety critic, however, argued the real issue is the fact that Stanstead is an unmanned border crossing. While visiting the region to get a sense of the problem first-hand is a “step in the right direction,” Rosane Doré Lefebvre said it’s really a public safety issue and said budget cuts at the Canada Border Services Agency aren’t exactly helping the situation.

“What they announced is that people who crossed the border illegally will not be able to sponsor their relatives for five years. In no way are measures like this going to resolve the problems with the Stanstead border. Stanstead remains a border crossing that’s been declared an un-manned border crossing,” she said.

“What worries us is the fact they’re not resolving this problem. They’re continuing to cut front-line border services – $142 million in the last budget. It’s not just people who cross.

“We’re now discovering there’s human trafficking but it also means there’s likely a problem with drugs, weapons. All that can come through this crossing.”

According to the Canadian Border Services Agency, a new security barrier was installed last month at the Stanstead crossing to prevent people from driving the wrong way down the highway to get into Canada without having to report to authorities.

Postmedia News has learned the migrants arrived in Canada this way, before the barrier was built.

So far, border guards have located 40 of the 85 migrants. About 30 of them were arrested late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Of the 85, 35 are children, and of the remaining 50 adults, one-third are women.

The individuals are now being questioned in the Greater Toronto Area as authorities try to determine who among them are the ringleaders.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Stanstead+spot+people+smuggling/7657928/story.html#ixzz2EJDSXQ1P

International students easy prey for immigration recruiters
Government trying to crack down on ‘ghost consultants’
By Fabiola Carletti and Janet Davison, CBC News Posted: Dec 11, 2012 5:02 AM ET Last Updated: Dec 11, 2012 4:57 AM ET

False immigration promise lures student to Quebec

Vipul Patel thought that coming from India to study in Canada would be a good way to gain a foothold in a country he hopes will become his permanent home.

But nearly a year after making the move, the 23-year-old is frustrated, confused and not sure who to believe in the sometimes murky — and costly — world where ghost consultants mingle with legitimate agents wanting to help foreign students come to Canada.

“It’s very hard for me to trust anyone,” says Patel.
WHO GETS IN
Would you qualify to come to Canada as a skilled worker?

Patel’s suspicions developed after he turned to Edu Edge, a Toronto-based consulting firm that, with the help of a sub-agent, was promoting “study and immigrate” packages to students in India.

Edu Edge isn’t licensed to provide immigration consulting services, but its president, Naveen Kolan, says the firm hires such services as needed by seeking out Quebec lawyers who can offer them.

The company also hires subagents and in this case, the agent may have overstated what it was able to deliver, Kolan says. Edu Edge has told the subagent to take down the online ads in question.
Complained to regulator

In his complaint to the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council, the federal regulator launched last year by the federal government to crack down on unauthorized immigration representatives, Patel said he was made false promises about immigration timelines and the need for French to study and work in Quebec.

Patel wanted to enrol in an accounting course offered by the Lester B. Pearson School Board, the largest English-language school board in Quebec.
Who is an authorized representative?

Since the passage of Bill C-35 — formerly called the Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act — it has been illegal for unauthorized representatives to charge fees for immigration services. Those who are authorized representatives must be in good standing and must be registered under one of three groups:
Members of the new Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).
Lawyers with a provincial or territorial law society.
Notaries who are members of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

For more information, read the ICCRC’s bulletin for education agents and institutions.

His complaint alleges he was given “false advertisement on Facebook” promising that students could get permanent residency in 24 months and that no French would be required for residency in Quebec, misconceptions that Patel says were verbally reinforced.

“French is compulsory in Quebec. You need French in order to apply for [Quebec's skilled worker program,]” says Johnny Purohit, president of the Montreal-based registered consulting firm CIS Experts, who helped Patel file his complaint.

“Vipul was led to believe that he would get a three-year work permit if he studied in Quebec for two years, which is misleading — and it played a big role in his decision to come to Quebec to study here.”

At Edu Edge, Kolan says the company advised its subagent to remove the ads “right away” after questions regarding them were brought to the company’s attention.

Edu Edge tries to give “fair and accurate” information about the accounting program and educational outcomes to students, Kolan said.

At the same time, he says, the company works with partners whose advertisements are “difficult for us to monitor” and who sometimes “resort to practices which are not standard practices.”
Open letter

The Lester B. Pearson School Board has been using Edu Edge to recruit students from India for specialized accounting courses that are only offered to students from that country.

“We wanted to break into the Indian market. We’d done our investigation and [Edu Edge] seemed to be very thorough,” says Carol Mastantuono, the board’s international studies co-ordinator.

The board has had a good partnership with Edu Edge, she says, and is looking at extending its agreement with the group.

Still, Mastantuono told CBC News she would discuss the Patel complaint with Edu Edge.

“If it’s proved that any company — and it’s not just Edu Edge — any company or any organization that we dealt with was proven to be not on the up an up or there would be problems or difficulties with them, then we would move towards, absolutely, you know, nullifying the contract. There’d be no question about that.”

The ICCRC wouldn’t comment on Patel’s complaint, which is still being reviewed, because of confidentiality rules. But it does acknowledge the difficulty international students can face, and has posted an open letter to Canadian colleges and universities on its website.

“We are asking Canadian educational institutions to protect international students by encouraging their recruiters to operate within Canadian laws,” the letter says.

“It has come to our attention that foreign students are often victims of abuse and improper advice. Either they are being coerced into purchasing airline tickets at a higher fee, or they are threatened and intimidated by agents, especially when the students ask for a refund when applications are refused.”
Fast-tracking students

The federal government has served notice it sees international students as an attractive immigration target.

In early November, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced plans to fast-track foreign students and have more admitted as immigrants each year under the Canadian Experience Class.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has announced plans to fast-track foreign students and have more admitted as immigrants each year under the Canadian Experience Class. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Kenney made his announcement flanked by young foreign university students, noting “these are the kind of bright young people we are trying to recruit.”

The government has also proposed changes to its International Student Program “in order to better protect international students and enhance Canada’s reputation as a destination of choice for their studies,” Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in an email.

More details on that are expected in the next few weeks. But in the meantime, not everyone is happy with the idea of promoting Canadian post-secondary education as an immigration tool.
Come for an education

Naomi Alboim, chair of the policy forum at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., says international students should be coming here because they want an education, not necessarily because they see it as a quicker route to immigration.

“The transition from international student status to permanent resident status should be a byproduct of students choosing to remain and being eligible to remain as opposed to the primary intent for why they’re coming here as an international student.”

Alboim says she’s much more worried about students who are coming to vocational schools, language schools or other educational institutions, rather than international students attending Canadian universities.

Those students attending Canadian universities go through a screening process and receive an education that is generally very good, she says.

Whereas students at the other schools or institutions “may be exploited in the sense that they pay high fees but they’re not getting the education they need.

“Those are the kinds of institutions that tend to use third-party recruiters, that tend to in some cases promise the students the sky and can’t deliver.”
Not a packaged deal

Alboim says it’s to the federal government’s credit that it has proposed regulations that would require provinces to identify educational institutions that they think should be able to host international students.

As Brent Farrington, internal co-ordinator for the Canadian Federation of Students, says, more and more international students are running into trouble in Canada.

“It’s a growing issue, obviously, with the number of international students increasing in Canada,” he said.

Speaking generally about the subject, and not referring specifically to Edu Edge, Farrington said: “because the recruiters are paid essentially for fulfilling quotas, they make a lot of promises, many of which are not true, to the international students they’re recruiting.”

“That’s not to say that all recruiters are bad, but we’ve reached a level where the federal government is stepping in to adopt a law to require recruiters and agents to register with the government if they’re providing advice on Canadian immigration — and that includes work permits, study permits and paths to permanent residency.”

Farrington says recruiting agents who make promises that students will be able to immigrate into Canada once they have a degree “should receive hefty fines because that’s not true.”

“What we have is a situation in which international students have a great chance of being able to immigrate, but it’s certainly not a packaged deal,” he says.

Family living in Montreal fights deportation to Mexico
Mendez-Reyes family wants to defer immigration officials’ decision
CBC News Posted: Dec 27, 2012 4:29 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 27, 2012 8:51 PM ET

A family that has been living in Montreal for four years has learned it will be deported to Mexico on Jan. 19 despite efforts to stay.

Marisol Mendez said she’s terrified of returning to Mexico after settling in Montreal.

“We are a good family,” she said, sobbing. “We try to have a good family to give a good example.”

She said her husband, Fernando Reyes, has been kidnapped by Mexico’s federal police three times. Mendez alleged her son, who was 11-years-old at the time, was also kidnapped the last time her husband was taken by authorities.

Mendez said she fears it could happen again.

The family’s lawyer, Idorenyin Amana, has applied for a deferral to allow the family’s two children, aged 16 and 17, to finish the school year.

“The officer we met today is a removal officer. She has one job: remove. The decisions on the file have been made by other people from the refugee division to the federal court,” he said.

The family has asked Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to review the decision made by immigration authorities.

Immigration officials denied the family’s request for refugee status last May. The family’s attempt to appeal the decision was struck down last August.

The family held a press conference on Dec. 17 to tell people about their situation. Amir Khadir, a member of the National Assembly for Québec Solidaire, requested that Quebec’s immigration minister intervene in the case.

In a press release, Mexicans United for Regularization (MUR) said the family is “suffering from the effect of recent changes to the immigration system, brought in by Bill C-31.”

Bill C-31 was passed by Canada’s Conservative government in June. It aims to fill gaps in Canada’s workforce

Posted: Thu., Jan. 10, 2013, 2:10pm PT
Canadian national charged with immigration visa scam
Andrew Boryski charged with cheating aspiring actors out of funds
By Dave McNary

www.variety.com

The city of Los Angeles has charged a Canadian national with 32 criminal counts for allegedly cheating aspiring actors out of funds through an immigration visa scam.

Andrew Boryski, 26, was arrested Wednesday by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations at Los Angeles International Airport as he prepared to board a flight bound for Canada.
He was charged with three counts of grand theft, one count of practicing law without a license, and 28 counts of violating provisions of the Immigration Consultant Act. The complaint alleged that he operated a Los Angeles-area immigration consulting business that sought visas on behalf of aspiring foreign actors.

“We will hold accountable charlatans who pray upon the career aspirations of others,” said City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. “People who come to Los Angeles

to work must be aware that it is illegal for immigration consultants to provide legal advice. Before paying them a penny, they should contact the appropriate agency

and verify the consultant’s credentials.”

The City Attorney’s office announced that two actors from Australia and one from Ireland have alleged Boryski charged them approximately $5,000 each to assist them in procuring an O-1 visa — which is intended for established persons in the entertainment industry with work pending in the United States and not for

newcomers to the business without actual employment. Boryski allegedly never filed paperwork on behalf of the victims and failed to follow through on promises to refund the victims’ money.

SAG-AFTRA national executive director David White praised the City Attorney’s office.

“We applaud the efforts of Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert to protect actors from

unscrupulous business practices that attempt to separate them from their money,” White said. “Performers from all jurisdictions should be able to pursue their dreams in the entertainment industry without fear of abuse and harm. SAG-AFTRA certainly welcomes the zero tolerance policy clearly demonstrated by the City Attorney’s Office in such cases.”

Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

___________

Canadian Talent Consultant Charged in Alleged Actor Visa Scam

 CIR: The version  posted yeasterday is now under a publication ban, thus the names of those charged had to be removed.

______________

Border agency charges 7 in alleged ‘marriage of convenience’ scheme in Toronto
Thursday, January 17, 2013 9:26 PM

TORONTO – Canada Border Services Agency has charged seven people in the Toronto area in connection with an investigation into what it calls a “marriage of convenience” scheme.

The agency says the accused acted as go-betweens who arranged for Canadian citizens to marry and sponsor Chinese nationals.
It says a four-year investigation revealed the marriages were bogus and done to let the in-name-only spouses gain entry status in Canada — for a fee of $30,000 to $35,000 dollars each.

(…)

© The Canadian Press, 2013

Read it on Global News: Global News | Border agency charges 7 in alleged ‘marriage of convenience’ scheme in Toronto

Bradford woman charged with defrauding prospective immigrants
Published on Monday January 21, 2013

Russell Piffer
Staff Reporter

www.thestar.com
A woman is facing fraud charges after multiple victims allegedly paid for immigration assistance that was never delivered.

Police said a woman claiming to be a consultant at Toronto-based Joan Raymond and Associates allegedly took retainer and application fees from three people who wanted to file immigration claims between 2009 and 2012.(…)
Joan Raymond, 47, of Bradford, was charged on Monday with three counts of fraud under $5,000 and three counts of disobeying a court order.

(…)

Standen says she met Gonzalez on vacation at the Club Amigo resort in Guardalavaca in April 2010, where he worked as an entertainer.

Marriage to Cuban leaves Brampton bride brokenhearted — and broke
Erin Standen says the man she met in April 2010 vanished three days after finally joining her in Canada — an all-too-familiar story for Border Services.
(…)
By: Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Thu Feb 07 2013

After Erin Standen married the man of her dreams a year ago, she showered him and his family in Cuba with love — and gifts.

In June, while waiting for the spousal sponsorship to come through in Havana, the 28-year-old Brampton single mother began renovating her basement apartment for their new life.

She ripped out the carpet, installed tile floors, bought a 47-inch big-screen TV and put in a $4,000 bedroom set, anticipating his arrival.

On Jan. 12, the long wait was finally over and Jorge Manuel Batista Gonzalez, 33, arrived at Pearson International Airport, embraced by an exhilarated Standen.

Three days later, Standen says, Gonzalez — after kissing her goodbye as she left for her waitressing job — walked out the door with all the clothes and other things she had bought for him, along with $1,000 tip money she had collected in the bedroom.

All that remained of him, she says, was a misspelled note on a crumpled napkin: “Sorry I don’t fell love anymore. Don’t lock for me. I’l be good. I will try to pay you back. Thank x Everithing. Jorge Manuel.”

Standen says she was left with thousands of dollars in debt — from a $4,000 cellphone bill to money she borrowed from her parents for her wedding in Cuba — and a broken heart.

“We talked about how many children we’re going to have, about travelling around the world together, how he was going to treat me with a big dinner with his first paycheque, and how he owed his life to me,” Standen says, in tears.

“I came home. He took everything I bought him: shoes, winter jackets, three pairs of jeans, four sweaters and … underwear. I feel so empty. He just ripped my heart out of me. I feel so used and violated.”

The Star was unable to reach Gonzalez for comment. Someone who answered the phone at his family’s home in Cuba hung up. Standen says she has also phoned and emailed his family, but no one seems to know where he is.

Standen says she called the police but was told there was nothing they could do because the two were married. She called the Canada Border Services Agency to report the alleged fraud, but says she was told: “Your case is one in 10,000. You’ll never know what happens to him.”

CBSA would not comment to the Star on the case. It has no readily available statistics on the number of permanent residencies revoked for alleged marriage fraud.

Worse, Standen says, immigration officials told her she is on the hook to provide financial support to Gonzalez for three years. Tiana Gabriel, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, verified that if a sponsored spouse receives social assistance, the sponsor would be responsible to pay it back.
(…)
The sponsored person’s permanent resident status can be revoked, but the process is lengthy.

Standen says the border agency would not tell her if a warrant would be issued, and officials didn’t even ask for a photo of Gonzalez.

Standen says she met Gonzalez on vacation at the Club Amigo resort in Guardalavaca in April 2010, where he worked as an entertainer. The two fell in love and she travelled back and forth 10 times to be with him. She married him in January 2012 and filed for sponsorship.
(…)

“I was so blinded to it. It feels so real, the love I felt from him. I was so close with him and his family. I put everything I had out there. I wouldn’t have known he’d do this to me,” she said.

“I just want to ask him why he did this to me, if he didn’t love me and didn’t want to be with me. I just need some closure. He was my everything.”

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney vowed to start cracking down on immigrant investors who seek entry to Canada through Quebec’s self-managed program only to settle down in Toronto and Vancouver.

Quebec immigrant investors who reside in Toronto and Vancouver are committing fraud, Kenney warns
Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney is vowing to crack down on immigrants who fraudulently use the Quebec investor program.
Tobi Cohen 
Published: March 26, 2013, 4:42 pm
Updated: 5 days ago

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney vowed to start cracking down on immigrant investors who seek entry to Canada through Quebec’s self-managed program only to settle down in Toronto and Vancouver.
At least 90 per cent of immigrant investors who apply through the Quebec program violate the rule that requires successful applicants to reside in the province, Kenney said, warning the government isn’t going to allow this practice to continue.
“If you are sitting somewhere today hoping to apply for the Quebec investor program but you expect to go and live in Vancouver or Toronto, that is fraud. It’s misrepresentation under the Immigration Act,” Kenney said during a news conference near Toronto Tuesday.
“It doesn’t matter what agents and recruitment people tell you and we intend to begin cracking down on the fraud being committed.”
Quebec approved 6,421 business immigrant applications in 2011, most of them immigrant investors. The stream, along with the national one administered by the federal government on behalf of the rest of Canada, has been closed to new applicants pending changes to the program.
It’s believed the minimum investment of $800,000 — it was just $400,000 in 2010 — is far too low compared to similar programs in like-minded countries, and that it should be a permanent contribution to the Canadian economy. Under the current system, provinces get the cash to invest in economic development projects but must pay back the principal five years later.
While Kenney has no immediate plans to re-open the national program, which usually begins accepting new applications in July, officials say Quebec could introduce its revamped program within months which, at least in part, prompted Kenney’s warning. Officials from the Quebec government did not respond to a request for comment.

(…)

1,800 suspected fraudsters just the first to be stripped of citizenship: experts
Postmedia News | 11/07/20 | Last Updated: 11/08/25 1:19 AM ET
By Althia Raj

OTTAWA– Immigration fraud is so widespread that the 1,800 Canadians suspected of fraudulently obtaining their citizenship represent only the tip of the iceberg, immigration experts say.

Postmedia News has learned that the federal government expects new investigations by police and the Citizenship and Immigration Department will lead to more fraud cases being exposed and additional attempts to revoke citizenships and kick fraudsters out of the country.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney officially announced Wednesday that after a two-year investigation with the RCMP, other police services and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the government was revoking the citizenship of 1,800 people identified as having fraudulently obtained their citizenship — information that Postmedia News first revealed Tuesday.

Immigration lawyers and consultants who spoke with Postmedia News Wednesday said they are routinely being asked, over the phone and in person, to cheat on behalf of would-be clients.

“They don’t want a lawyer, they want a co-conspirator,” Toronto lawyer Sheldon Robins said. “The Iranians, the people from Dubai, the Lebanese, and others, 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.”

Tens of thousands of people have fraudulently obtained their citizenship over the last 30 years, Robins believes, though the actual number is unknowable.

“Eighteen hundred is a pretty small number . . . . It doesn’t begin to scratch the surface,” he said.

“Our country is taking in an awful lot of people who simply don’t want to be Canadians. They just want the passport and they’ll do anything that they can to get it. And then, just leave,” he said.

(…)

Bill 60 is long overdue, says former Herouxville councillor

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/bill-60-is-long-overdue-says-former-herouxville-councillor-1.1651965#ixzz2rNfR1u6j

Hearings on the proposed Charter of Values continued Wednesday at the National Assembly with the man behind the 2007 Herouxville saga.

Among those testifying, was former Herouxville town councillor Andre Drouin, who helped ban religious face coverings and stonings in his Mauricie town.

Drouin said the past seven years have been quite an education, for him, and that Bill 60 is long overdue.

“I believe it’s probably the first, well the best, thing that can happen to the province of Quebec now and I will dare at this – Canada will probably imitate us,” he said.

In 2007, the town of Herouxville famously passed a lifestyle code that including such points as banning religious face coverings and death by stoning.

Drouin said the Charter of Values will be very useful.

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Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/bill-60-is-long-overdue-says-former-herouxville-councillor-1.1651965#ixzz2rNfhjPLP

53 people came to Canada in identity theft fraud, RCMP say

CBC News Posted: Jul 09, 2014 3:44 PM ET Last Updated: Jul 09, 2014 7:39 PM ET

Five people in the Toronto area have been arrested for an alleged scam in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

• N.S. company cleared of abusing Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• McDonald’s accused of favouring foreign workers
• Temporary Foreign Worker Program sanctions target 3 employers

A year-long investigation, dubbed O-Nanny, began after the RCMP found that individuals at Platinum Care, a foreign worker recruitment and placement agency, were using falsified documents to create employment offers for foreign workers.

The accused were said to steal personal identification information from Canadians and use that information to create fictitious employment offers to foreign workers, allowing them into the country under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Since 2002, the program allows low-skill workers to fill jobs in Canada with offers of employment.

It is alleged that the accused are responsible for bringing 53 people into Canada under fraudulent means.

The investigation included information from Employment and Social Development Canada, the National Job Bank for Employers and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The five people are charged with numerous counts of identity theft, forgery and uttering forged documents. They are:

• Rosanna Lim, 51, the CEO of Platinum Care
• Leahnette Acuna, 50
• Shannon Lim, 25
• Normita Mandoza, 58
• Fazeina Sarlat, 52

All five are scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 6.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ontario RCMP at 1-800-387-0020, local police or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Former Immigration Canada employee charged in passport fraud

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-immigration-canada-employee-charged-in-passport-fraud-1.1920766#ixzz37rDlzjJB

RCMP hits Immigration Canada employee with 97 charges for allegedly selling passports

Stewart Bell | July 18, 2014 | Last Updated: Jul 19 8:58 AM ET
More from Stewart Bell | @StewartBellNP

Serhat Seyhoglu charged after Border Security: Canada’s Front Line filmed raid on BSSM construction site

CBC News Posted: Aug 11, 2014 4:55 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 11, 2014 4:59 PM PT

Charges have been laid against a Vancouver contractor in connection with a controversial raid by Canada Border Services Agency(CBSA) last year.

Serhat Seyhoglu, president of BSSM Construction Ltd., appeared in provincial court Monday to face charges of breaching the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by employing two foreign nationals without proper authorization.

Eight of Seyhoglu’s employees were arrested and several deported after a sweep of a Vancouver condominium construction site in March 2013, where Seyhoglu and his company had been hired as a subcontractor.

The raid was captured by a camera crew for Border Security: Canada’s Front Line, a reality television show that had the blessing of the CBSA to film its officers and staff on the job.

• BACKGROUND | Reality show filmed immigration raids, B.C. advocates say
• MORE | B.C. migrant workers face deportation after raid
• EXCLUSIVE | Minister approved TV show filming B.C. immigration raids
• UNDER FIRE | CBSA criticized over TV crew tagging along on raids

Immigration lawyer Zool Suleman, who represents some of the employees, is happy to see charges laid against the company and its owner.

“Employers have a responsibility to make sure that workers have valid visas – and they can’t just wash their hands of the situation by claiming ignorance,” he said.

Suleman has been requesting, unsuccessfully, that the CBSA apologize for allowing reality TV cameras to film the immigration raid that netted his clients.

The CBSA said that participation in the television series is strictly voluntary.

The agency came under intense criticism and was accused of bothsensationalizing the arrest and coercing detainees to sign release forms in order that video of the raid could be used in the show.

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