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| Since all the proper paperwork is completed, it
is difficult to identify a marriage of convenience. |
OTTAWA
| Apr.
3, 2009 — A
flourishing industry in Toronto is charging people up to $40,000 to arrange
fraudulent weddings to ensure legal residency for immigrants.
The cash payments can be made to lawyers who make all the wedding
arrangements, which include introducing a Canadian citizen to the customer,
completing all application documents and arranging a wedding of convenience.
Danielle Norris, a spokesperson for Citizenship
and Immigration Canada, says the government is concerned
about marriages of convenience.
"In recent years, the CIC continues to work diligently to uphold
the integrity of the immigration program by ensuring that relationships
of convenience are discovered and not used to circumvent the law. CIC
refuses spousal applications where there is reasonable grounds to believe
that the marriage is fraudulent."
That's easier said than
done.
"Marriage of convenience is very hard to prove," says Esher
Fiallos, a Toronto immigration lawyer who counsels clients not to defraud
the system. "How would the immigration department establish that
a marriage is a marriage of convenience? Marriages and even marriage
breakdown are hardly unusual."
Still, the immigration department
is trying very hard to clamp down on fraudulent marriages, says Norris.
Some techniques include reviewing marriage documents, photographs, e-mails
and love letters. Immigration officials may even make house visits.
Every year 9,000 to 10,000 Canadians marry foreigners living in the
country and file inland spousal sponsorship applications, according
to CIC. The department rejected about eight to 10 per cent of inland
applications during the past couple of years when they felt the supporting
documentation was questionable.
Planning a marriage of convenience
Normally, a person axious to stay in Canada through such a marriage
needs to pay about $20,000 as a deposit to a consultant, sometimes a
lawyer, and the Canadian citizen spouse will receive about half of it
for going through with the fraudulent marriage. Then, the "couple" will
be encouraged to open a joint bank account and get a shared mailbox.
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| The goal is to make these marriages appear
real. |
The lawyer hired by the immigrant is responsible for arranging
a wedding ceremony, filing the immigration application and getting a
divorce in the end. The customer needs to pay $15,000 after obtaining
Permanent Residence status and another $5,000 after the divorce.
Most of those involved are
foreign students and temporary workers looking to prolong their stay
here. They may approach members of their community to find some Canadians
for them to marry, or a lawyer that can help them arrange a marriage
of convenience.
As fraudulent marriages are becoming more common in
Canada, the government is employing a number of tactics to try to detect
and prevent the deception.
Norris says when there is "sufficient information," CIC
may start an investigation that could result in the loss of permanent
resident status for the sponsored individual, adding that the department "takes
all tips, complaints and reports of alleged marriage of convenience
seriously."
On the other side of the fence, those who assist
in carrying out the marriages say business is brisk.
One person
who spoke to Capital News on the condition of anonymity says he participated
in hundreds of such weddings last year, acting as a photographer. As
part of the package, the photographer takes pictures of the couple in
different sites, ranging from the CN Tower to a home kitchen. The couple
also wears different clothes in the pictures to show that time has passed
and to pretend they are in different seasons. Sometimes, fake love letters
or e-mails are created to try to demonstrate to immigration officials
that this is a real relationship.
If CIC suspects a marriage
of convenience to help someone stay in Canada, immigration examiners
will randomly interview couples to determine the validity of the marriage,
asking specific questions about the details of their daily lives. In
response, those involved in organizing the marriage of convenience coach
the "couples" on
how to answer the questions.
Further complicating the issue
of the marriage of convenience is that these marriages are performed
in accordance with the law and all the related documents are completed
and signed legally. 
|
Some
Signs of Marriage Fraud