Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney is using “Marriage Fraud” nonsense to put foreign spouses at the mercy of their Canadian sponsors for two years under his proposed changes to the spousal sponsorship immigration laws, saying conditional permanent residence that forces the foreign spouse to live for two years with their Canadian sponsors is required to deter marriages of convenience. But this will open up a whole can of worms where foreign spouses, especially women, will be forced to stay with their Canadian sponsors and forced to suffer violence, slavery and other social ills to get their Permanent Canadian Status. This has been shown to be the case in countries like the United Kingdom that have similar laws, where stories of sponsor abuse has been rampant. When a Canadian sponsor knows that their foreign spouse must stay with them for two years – it opens up the foreign spouses to immense abuse. This is another example of Kenney exploiting a very small number of true marriage fraud cases to bring in draconian immigration laws, all designed to stem immigration from countries like China and India – the two biggest countries of spousal immigration.
By R. Paul Dhillon
OTTAWA — Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney is using “Marriage Fraud” nonsense to put foreign spouses at the mercy of their Canadian sponsors for two years under his proposed changes to the spousal sponsorship immigration laws, saying conditional permanent residence that forces the foreign spouse to live for two years with their Canadian sponsors is required to deter marriages of convenience.
Kenney is exploiting the fringe marriage fraud elements in Canada and laws from other countries, such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, who use a form of conditional status, to justify his proposed new law which he claims will be a deterrent against marriage fraud.
But this will open up a whole can of worms where foreign spouses, especially women, will be forced to stay with their Canadian sponsors and forced to suffer violence, slavery and other social ills to get their Permanent Canadian Status.
This has been shown to be the case in countries like the United Kingdom, where stories of sponsor abuse has been rampant. When a sponsor knows that their foreign spouse must stay with them for two years – it opens up the foreign spouses to immense abuse.
This is another example of Kenney exploiting a very small number of true marriage fraud cases to bring in draconian immigration laws, all designed to stem immigration from countries like China and India – the two biggest countries of spousal immigration.
Under the new proposal, now open for further public input, a spouse or partner from abroad being sponsored by a Canadian or permanent resident would be required to live together with their sponsor in a legitimate relationship for two years following receipt of their permanent resident status in Canada. If these steps are not pursued, the sponsored spouse or partner’s status could be revoked, possibly leading to their removal and in some instances, criminal charges could also be laid. For all legitimate relationships, the condition would cease to apply once the conditional period has elapsed.
The proposed conditional measure would help deter people from engaging in a relationship, such as a marriage or a common law partnership, for the purpose of acquiring status or privilege under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This measure would apply to all spouses in relationships of two years or less who have no children with their sponsor at the time of the sponsorship application.
“Our objective is to weed out people trying to use a phony marriage as a quick and easy route to Canada,” said Kenney. “In town hall meetings I held in 2010 with victims of marriage fraud, I heard first-hand from victims who were still suffering the consequences years later. They implored me to do something to stop this from happening to others.”
The announcement follows on the heels of a separate measure Kenney unveiled last week. Effective March 2, sponsored spouses or partners are ineligible to sponsor a new spouse or partner for five years from the day that they are granted permanent residence status in Canada.
“The problem of marriage fraud is serious and will only get worse if we don’t put measures in place that protect the integrity of our immigration system while deterring people from trying to use a marriage of convenience to cheat their way into Canada,” said Kenney.
