Today in the news:
Now, if you follow me on Twitter (@MBlogger2) you will know that I am answering questions on Yahoo Answers and trying to share the knowledge I’ve gained from research for this blog with a wider audience. One question that I see fairly frequently on that site is about marriage. Usually it’s two young people who want to be together and feel that marriage is their only option for citizenship and therefore their continued relationship.
Now, of course you should only get married WHEN and IF you actually want to because you love someone. However, that’s an ideal and often doesn’t happen in the “real world”. I’m not just talking about immigration fraud marriages, but a lot of marriages happen because people feel they SHOULD or they HAVE to, not because they WANT to… but that aside…
I’m just going to put this out there, but you probably shouldn’t marry someone with immigration as your primary goal. I’m not really sure why people who are not vulnerable or financially needy (like the ones the individual in the article above took advantage of) would think it was a good idea to commit something which could potentially get them charged with fraud. Heck, you can be charged with fraud and have your spouse’s visa denied even if your love is “real and genuine”. All the government needs to do is doubt you, and it seems that they are inclined to do so.
I don’t know what inspires so many teens on the internet to believe marriage is the answer to spending more time with their cross-border sweetheart, but the article above should show them that there is intense government scrutiny of sponsorship and marriage. (Maybe its Romeo and Juliet, or author Elizabeth Gilbert?)
Here’s the official information from www.cic.gc.ca:
“There are some people who think marriage to a Canadian citizen will be their ticket to Canada
It is a crime for foreign nationals to marry Canadian citizens or permanent residents only to gain entry into Canada Canada
In many cases, sponsors and foreign applicants arrange a “marriage of convenience”: a marriage or common-law relationship where the sole purpose is for the sponsored spouse to immigrate to Canada
CIC officers are specially trained to recognize genuine immigration applications, and they know how to detect marriages of convenience. They use several methods to uncover marriage fraud, including document checks, site visits and interviews with sponsors and applicants. Canadian citizens or permanent residents found to be part of a marriage of convenience for immigration purposes may be charged with a crime.”
More info on immigration fraud here:
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