the CanadaVisa Team - 22 July, 2015
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan have announced a new internationalinformation-sharing initiative that will enhance Canada’s security and protect the integrity of Canadian immigration programs.
The program will also help ensure that prospective Canadian immigrants and refugee claimants are not disadvantaged by fraudulent refugee claims or other abuses of Canada’s immigration system.
Under this initiative, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom will be sharing fingerprint data about asylum seekers and foreign nationals facingdeportation to prevent abuses of Canada’s immigration programs.
“Through this initiative, we are tackling identity fraud and abuse of our immigration and refugee programs, while at the same time ensuring that Canadacontinues to welcome genuine refugees,” Kenney said.
The information will be shared confidentially and securely among the three countries. The initiative came into place through the Five Country Conference(FCC), a forum for immigration and border security, between Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand.
The United States is expected to join the initiative in the near future, and New Zealand is considering taking part as well.
“Canada has had a long-standing collaborative relationship with the FCC countries and I am pleased that we are building on this partnership,” said Kenney.
