Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada (CIMC) Minister Jason Kenney recently visited the Canadian immigration visa office in the Punjab capital of Chandigarh to discuss operations and means of increasing efficiency.

A large amount of fraudulent activity in the Chandigarh office was cited by visa officers as an important reason for delays and application refusals.

Minister Kenney is seeking to put a stop to the "developing industry" of fraudulent document vendors and phony immigration consultants in the region, that are taking advantage of a large number of potential Canadian immigration applicants.

He received a commitment from the Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal, stating that the local police would crack down on these activities.

"He clearly understood these document vendors and unscrupulous consultants are undermining the chances of legitimate visitors and immigrants to get to Canada," noted Minister Kenney.

"The bottom line is that our visa people have to be very vigilant," he went on to say. "We want legitimate law-abiding people who qualify to be visitors to immigrate with as little trouble as possible. Those who engage in this kind of fraud clog up the system."

Canada began processing visa applications in Chandigarh in 2004; it is the only country with a visa office there. About half of the Indo-Canadian community in Canada originated from the Punjab.

Minister Kenney expects there to be much closer cooperation between the Canadian visa officers and the Chandigarh police in the future.