Canada to revoke citizenship from 3,100 people

[Loulou79]

By CHARMAINE NORONHA
Associated Press
Published: Monday, Sep. 10, 2012 - 8:54 am
Last Modified: Monday, Sep. 10, 2012 - 10:14 am
TORONTO -- Canada has begun revoking citizenship from 3,100 people that the government said obtained it fraudulently, the country's immigration minister said Monday.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said that in most of the fraud cases, applicants paid a representative to prove they were living in Canada to establish residency when they were, in fact, living abroad.

Permanent residents must reside in Canada for three out of four consecutive years before applying for Canadian citizenship. To retain their status as permanent residents, they must live in Canada for two out of five years, with rare exceptions.

Criminal investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Border Services Agency have found that a family of five could pay over $25,000 over four or more years to create the illusion of Canadian residence.

The government said it is also investigating thousands of others who may have lied to obtain or maintain permanent residency. Kenney said anyone caught committing fraud will be stripped of citizenship and residence status.

"Canadian citizenship is not for sale," Kenney said during a news conference Monday. "We will not stand idly by and allow people to lie and cheat their way into Canadian citizenship."

Kenney has said that Canada's per-capita immigration rate remains one of the highest in the world, with the country welcoming 248,660 permanent residents in 2011. An average of about 250,000 immigrants has been admitted to Canada annually since 2006, which the immigration department calls the highest sustained level of immigration in Canadian history.

The minister said a crack-down on immigration fraud started three years ago, with nearly 11,000 individuals potentially implicated in lying to apply for citizenship or maintain permanent resident status.

He said federal agencies have so far removed or denied admittance to more than 600 former permanent residents linked to the investigations.

Kenney also said he is planning to introduce amendments to the Citizenship Act that would require immigration consultants to be members of a regulatory body, which he said may help crack down on crooked consultants.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/10/4805499/canada-to-revoke-citizenship-from.html#storylink=cpy

 

[karenps]

Thanks for posting this article. I read it yesterday and was livid! I cannot believe the fraud that goes on around residency and citizenship. This costs government so much money and, worse, makes it SO difficult for legitimate individuals to get their PR cards renewed, acquire citizenship, etc. because of all the review their applications have to go through as a result of these fraudsters' actions.

I called the CIC call center to find out when we can expect to hear about our parents' PR card renewal applications. They have been in the country for 2 years and 3 days (733 days) in the past 5 years so, thinking we met the requirement, we filed their renewal application. Their cards expired on July 23, 2012. We filed their application for renewal on July 25, 2012 and their file was transferred to the local CIC office in Toronto a few days later. From what the call agent said, it can take up to 20 months (almost 2 years!!!) to hear from them. Unbelievable. And the tragedy is that my parents meet the basic requirements but their file is probably grouped in with people who apply not having met the requirements or with people trying to fraud the system.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Karen

 

[farid-]

oh my God it's shocking so true someone else is doing it
and innocent people like your parents are paying for it.
horrible.

 

[Loulou79]

Hi Karen,

I hope that the timeline for the PR renewal will be shorter.

Would not it be easy if they just stamp the passports at airports!!

 

[karenps]

Thanks, Farid!

@ Loulou, I completely agree! But perhaps the most ABSURD thing to me is the fact that they do not have entry/exit information stored on the PR cards?!? Wouldn't it make sense to store this type of information so that at renewal time, they can scan the cards or enter PR card number into their system and see exactly when the individual left/entered Canada. This seems so basic to me and I have NO idea why they don't do this.

Also, wouldn't this be a great way to prevent people from lying about when they entered/left Canada since all this info would be stored on the card. I just don't get it.

I wonder if anyone on this forum can answer this.

Karen

 

[rchetan]

so what happens when someone has lived just over 2 years before their PR expires and applied for an extension like your parents did.. but did not get the extension approved yet? do they have to leave the country?

I am asking because we are planning to move in a week or so; and in 2 years and 1month our PR will be up for renewal. So 2 years from now we will apply for extension but we probably will not get new cards before the current ones expire.


-rchetan

 

[2817]

Hi karenps,

Your story really make me scared, I was reading that your parents did not move one year and they were staying in Canada, what about another year? Do they have alot of stamps in passport? Did you try to analyse again which mistake could be done in filing application? Two years waiting period, that is ridiculous....

 

[karenps]

You can leave the country when your card is being renewed. The call center agent said that my parents can leave but will have to apply for a travel document when they want to enter canada the next time. We just need to make sure that they have been here for 2 years out of the past 5 so that when thet apply for teavel doc, they will have met the residency obligation. There is no way they can just stay here and wait for 2 years while their cards are being renewed. We do not think there will be problems getting their cards renewed since they meet the residency obligation. We may have tpo provide more documentation if they ask for it.

@2817, we didn't make any errors in filing the application. Did exactly what they asked for and provided all the info they wanted. I think because $y parents have been here just a bit over 2 years, they want to check to make sure we are not lying, etc., since there is so much fraud going on. And it's taking them 2 years because they have SO many cases.


Hope this helps with your questions.
Karen

 

[2817]

Dear Karen,

Thanks for feedback.

 

[YorkFactory]

But perhaps the most ABSURD thing to me is the fact that they do not have entry/exit information stored on the PR cards?!? Wouldn't it make sense to store this type of information so that at renewal time, they can scan the cards or enter PR card number into their system and see exactly when the individual left/entered Canada. This seems so basic to me and I have NO idea why they don't do this.

There is no passport control when you leave Canada, so this wouldn't work.

 

[karenps]

Thanks! I wish there was a way around this. I feel like it would save the government money in time in trying to weed out the fraudsters.

 

[farid-]

you know what i heard people use to have two passports going back home on one and coming back on another so guess what no stamps and they couldn't catch them end up in becoming citizen and now they are revoking it but also screwing the innocent people. and look at us who are waiting for residency for two years and really scared for messing up with immigration and still there are people who are doing it openly like wow..