Ashby: Proof of love is not as simple as immigration officials would have it

2015/05/28 1 Comment

One of the best pieces of commentary on the CIC bogus marriage training guide (no longer used but no clarity on what the current training tools say):

A Citizenship and Immigration Canada training guide that leaked last week has exposed the inner workings of CIC’s unique perspective on what makes a good marriage.

Apparently, what makes a good marriage is having a lot of money. Money for a diamond ring. (DeBeers must be pleased. Diamonds are forever, which is approximately as long as it takes to obtain a permanent residency card.) Money for a big wedding — more than “small groups of friends.” (That dream elopement with just a handful of friends and family, away from big fat wedding drama? Sorry, lovebirds. Size matters.) Money for a big wedding venue — no restaurants allowed. (Rubber chicken dinners and serviette swans for everyone! It’ll be romantic, just like an annual general meeting!) Money for a honeymoon. And if one of you comes from a country without much money? Well, your marriage might not be valid.

But above all, the CIC is looking for body language (or at least was when the document, dated 2007, was issued.) Like the “body language experts” employed by supermarket tabloids and gossip rags, officials at the CIC believe they can learn the truth about a relationship based on who is smiling, how far apart they stand, and the expressions on their faces. The irony of a group of Canadians judging the citizens of other nations on their ability to emote and show affection is apparently lost on the CIC. Canada is a great country full of wonderful people, all of whom do everything possible to avoid each others’ eyes.

This dependence on photographic evidence is line with the 2014 findings of McMaster University professor Vic Satzewich, believed to be one of only two Canadian researchers in 50 years permitted to investigate CIC’s visa policies up close. Over two years, Satzewich visited 11 of CIC’s overseas visa application sites. From Hong Kong to Colombia, Canadian officials judge marriages by body language, number of guests at a wedding, seeming amount spent on the wedding, and the contents of love letters. His conclusion? That the system was profoundly vulnerable to racist social engineering.

“The system allows racial biases to creep in the selection process. They could use their authority to put it bluntly and crudely, to keep Canada white,” he told the Toronto Star.

This comes at a time when Canada’s rules for family-class immigrants have changed in an attempt to weed out marriage fraud. Marriage fraud is a real problem. But it’s one that’s often associated with conniving “marriage consultants” and “matchmakers,” who fleece both sides of the marriage. It’s akin to human trafficking. Spouses in Canada are promised a loving partner (or just uncomplicated sex), while spouses elsewhere are promised a ticket out of poverty. Both are expected to pay thousands of dollars in consultation fees. Some couples are trying to hack the system, it’s true. But family-class immigrants already make up less than one quarter of Canada’s immigrant population. And now they are regarded with deep suspicion.

Perhaps that suspicion comes from Canada’s history. Between 1663 and 1673, whole sections of Canada were populated by Les Filles du Roi, who closed their eyes and thought of freedom while the men who’d had them imported did their best to increase the tax base of New France. Perhaps the CIC is simply trying to avoid a similar injustice. And it’s important to realize that the CIC does want to protect people, and that it has mandatory acceptance quotas. The concern is how it fills them.

Judging someone else’s marriage isn’t unusual. It’s the favourite sport of mothers-in-law everywhere. But the prevailing truth about marriage is that it, like immigration, is a “black box” process. No one outside it knows what’s going on inside it — and even the people inside it are occasionally mystified. Yearning emails, dirty texts, and smug selfies only tell part of the story. If the CIC really wanted to know about the validity of a marriage, they would ask about who makes the coffee, who does the laundry, who co-ordinates the social plans. Plenty of “real” marriages have depended on far less. And if spouses needed to demonstrate true love in order to share a household, then plenty of us wouldn’t even be here today.

Ashby: Proof of love is not as simple as immigration officials would have it | Ottawa Citizen.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Immigration guide for detecting marriage fraud called ‘racist and offensive’

2015/05/21 1 Comment

More on the training guide on marriage fraud (Immigration officers told to pay close attention to Chinese/non-Chinese marriages). The Department’s case would be strengthened if it released the current instructions rather than asserting that these have been changed.

In any case, these revised instructions will likely come out later as I assume somebody or organization as requested the revised instructions under ATIP:

The three-page training guide, titled “Evidence of Relationship,” lists clues officers should look for in assessing a spousal sponsorship application. Ostensible warning signs that it’s a sham marriage include: couples who are not depicted kissing on the lips in their wedding photos; university-educated Chinese nationals who marry non-Chinese; a small wedding reception in a restaurant; a Canadian sponsor who is relatively uneducated, with a low-paying job or on welfare.

Other red flags include couples who don’t take a honeymoon trip, perhaps because they were students or lack the financial resources to do so; no diamond ring; and photos of activities together taken in Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto.

The training material, obtained under an access to information request and posted online by immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens, has created an uproar on social media among some Canadians and their foreign-born spouses.

“We all thought it was a joke. There’s no way this was real. Then we found out the guide was real and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is discriminatory. It’s against the Charter,’” said Saulnier, 37, who met his wife, Juliana, 35, while she was studying English in Toronto in 2011.

“I was born in Canada. This is racist and offensive. I’m just floored that this is accepted as criteria Immigration uses in judging the validity of my relationship,” added the software executive, whose wife is among thousands of foreign spouses waiting for long periods — the current average is 26 months — to be granted permanent residency.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada denied that the training material was racist and insisted all spousal applications from around the world are assessed equally, against exactly the same criteria, regardless of country of origin.

“The specific document you are referencing was an ad hoc document issued to officers nearly five years ago in response to an observed temporary spike in cases of marriages of convenience,” department spokesperson Nancy Caron told the Star.

“The instruction has not been active for more than three years, as the conditions that led to the instruction being issued subsequently changed.”

Immigration guide for detecting marriage fraud called ‘racist and offensive’ | Toronto Star.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Immigration officers told to pay close attention to Chinese/non-Chinese marriages

2015/05/16 1 Comment

Interesting release of the red flags or criteria used to assess the possibility of “marriages of convenience.”

While many of the criteria are relatively neutral, CIC is essentially using racial profiling as a key flag:

Chinese nationals who marry non-Chinese Canadians may be among those likely to be flagged by Citizenship and Immigration Canada as being involved in bogus marriages, documents released under Access to Information reveal.

The documents, dated April 2007, form part of a training manual for immigration officers who assess permanent residence applications for foreign spouses or partners who are already in Canada. Access to information records suggest the criteria were still in place as recently as October 2013. No one from Citizenship and Immigration Canada was able to comment Friday on whether the criteria remains in effect.

Canadians who apply to sponsor a spouse or common-law partner must submit several documents, including a marriage certificate, a questionnaire, proof of divorce if either partner was previously married and evidence the applicant lives with the sponsor. Couples may also submit wedding invitations or photos.

AMONG THE RED FLAGS LISTED:

  • Chinese nationals, often university students, marrying non-Chinese;
  • Photos that don’t include parents or family members, but rather small groups of six to 10 friends;
  • An “uneducated” sponsor, with a low-paying job or on welfare;
  • In wedding photos, the couple doesn’t kiss on the lips;
  • Couples who don’t honeymoon, even for a weekend, “usually because of university and/or no money”
  • There are usually no “diamond” rings;
  • A small number of professionally taken wedding photos;
  • Photos of the couple wearing the same clothes in various locations;
  • Photos of activities together are often taken in the Niagara Falls area, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto.

OTHER FACTORS IMMIGRATION OFFICERS WERE ADVISED TO LOOK AT:

  • Previous relationships of the sponsor and the applicant and the length of time between a divorce and a new relationship
  • Whether Chinese surnames are unusual or common ones such as Wang, Huang, Li or Chen;
  • How much the sponsored spouse has to gain from permanent residence and whether they have taken previous steps to obtain it — a failed refugee claim, for example;
  • The length of time the couple has known one another, and whether they met, cohabited and married within six months
  • Whether there is an age gap of 10 years or more between the partners;
  • Whether there are significant differences in the education levels or ethnic backgrounds of the partners.

Vancouver immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens said he was surprised by some of the instructions. Meurrens obtained the document from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which had previously released it under Access to Information.

“Why Chinese people are singled out I have no idea, and then that they’re training officers to be suspicious of people of lower income and lower education when they get married, I thought that was pretty offensive.”

Immigration officers told to pay close attention to Chinese/non-Chinese marriages.

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,