Immigration Marriage Fraud in Canada - Research Paper Example

?Running head: Immigration Marriage Fraud in Canada Introduction Under the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, one of the major objectives is to assist families to reunite. It therefore follows that, permanent residents and Canadian citizens may undertake to sponsor their partners or spouse to enable then obtain permanent residence in Canada (Ward and Belanger 2010). However, this Act has been continuously abused by some individuals who enter into marriage for convenience to defeat the Canadian immigration laws and gain permanent resident in Canada. Fraudulent marriage may take two forms: One, spouse may pretend to be in a relationship that is genuine so that it can be easy for the partner who is being sponsored to gain entry into Canada while on the other hand the sponsoring partner may be given some kind of benefits either financial or other kind in return for the sponsorship. The second kind of fraudulent marriage or marriage of convenience is where one of the spouses genuinely gets into a relationship not knowing that his or her partner only wants to use the relationship to get Canadian permanent resident status (Magana 2003). Under the two instances of marriage of convenience, the relationship is terminated soon after the person who is sponsored gain permanent resident status in Canada, thus marriage of convenience or fraudulent marriages weakens the Canadian immigration system not to mention the difficulty that such fraudulent marriage present especially to the immigrants who are genuine in their endeavors. Discussion Study shows that when a woman in an Indo-Canadian community is murdered there is usually intensive outrage with the sympathizers shouting women rights and inequality. However, nobody seems to be concerned when a man in this community dies resulting to a problem directly related to a woman. A case in mind is the recent incident where a young Indian boy committed suicide after his wife married him in India, immigrated to Canada, and walked out on him once she became a Permanent Resident. Gurdip Singh Saroya an Indian man had married his wife Harmanjit Kaur Dhami who arrived in Canada on October 12 to reunite with her husband, on arrival; however, she would not allow her husband to touch her. She insisted that she wanted to go and stay in Toronto on her own. Unable to come into terms with this news Gurdip Singh Saroya her husband could not swallow this emotional fraud from his wife anymore, on one Monday morning, Gurdip Singh Saroya committed suicide by jumping off the Pattullo Bridge. The family of Gurdip Singh Saroya is convinced that the actions of Harmanjit Kaur Dhami the fraud wife as they call her was to blame for their sons’ death. They have a strong conviction that Harmanjit Kaur Dhami persistence to move to Toronto to stay alone severely affected Gurdip Singh Saroya as he realized that he was in a marriage that was strange and unworkable. The family of Gurdip Singh Saroya are also convinced that Harmanjit Kaur Dhami only used her marriage to their son for convenience purposes to gain permanent resident to Canada. In Canada, an individual commits a marriage fraud when he or she enters into marriage for purposes of getting the requisites to attain permanent resident in Canada. For this reason, when a foreign spouse is helped to gain entry into the country and within a short time walks out of the marriage, these spouses automatically subscribes to their community support system which constitutes a marriage fraud. Basically, the institution of marriage is a union that is sacred, and in instances where one of the party to the marriage has genuine feelings and intentions while the other party mostly the party who is sponsored to get entry into Canada, has a deceptive intention of gaining permanent entry into the country, the very core values of marriage are defeated and as such that marriage never existed in the first place. The veil behind immigrants’ marriage must therefore be lifted to establish the true intentions of the parties intending to enter marriage in Canada. It quite obvious that this marriages for convenience or paper marriage so to speak, are intended to defeat the laws of Canada and indeed a direct contravention of the immigration Act of the country. Under section 4 of the Canadian immigration Act is abused by immigrants who use the permanent residents of Canada as well as the Canadian citizens themselves to enter the country through fraudulent marriages. The foreigners with selfish and certainly ill motives have used the very laws that are meant to protect Canadian citizens and permanent residents to attain their goals shamelessly with total disregard to the values of the society. The individual who are victims of such misrepresentation and fraudulent marriages are in many ways traumatized to the extent that they are even incapable of leading a normal life thus isolating them from the mainstream society for the fear of the society knowing what took place. This situation has caused psychological and emotional stress on the victims some of whom have ended up taking their lives as was the case with the Indian boy. It has been argued that in an effort to ensure that the marriages entered into are genuine, the person sponsoring their spouse must take personal responsibility to ensure that the relationship they are about to enter into is based on genuine intentions. In addition, the government of Canada should also take responsibility to ensure that her citizens are protected against such misrepresentations by investigating into the fraudulent marriages (Haines and Rosenblum 1999). There have been suggestions that the government should impose more stringent penalties for parties who fraudulently enter into marriage with an aim of gaining entry into Canada. For the sponsored spouse the government should introduce measures such as deportation and also financial compensation of the victims of fraud. The government must also introduce probation periods within which marriage should take full force as well as follow ups for the marriages that have already taken place. Public awareness campaigns should be undertaken to enlighten the citizen of the country about the existence of fraudulent marriages and how to mitigate such incidences. Conclusion Fraudulent marriages or marriage of convenience in Canada has been a problem that cuts across gender and ethnic lines. It is a dilemma that has continuously haunted Canada for quite some time. According to Roger and Otis 2001, the victims of such deception are left traumatized and sometime not able to mingle with the mainstream society for the fear of being asked what happened with their spouse. In extreme cases such victims go to the extent of committing suicide. There is a strong conviction that this nightmare in Canada can be addressed once and for all as the laws to protect the victims who sponsor their spouse already exist. These laws can effectively address the situation if they are enforced in an effort to address the current cases of fraudulent marriages as well as to address future occurrences. As aforementioned, the Canadian citizens and residents who have been victims of such deception are not only stressed by the financial burden they have to undertake but also most of them are severely traumatized to the extent of committing suicide. This is an unfair condition for the innocent victims of the fraud who might have made wrong judgment about their spouses and cannot find any legal redress to their problem. Assuming that this problem is non-existence cannot help it to disappear. The government of Canada must take stringent measures to solve and prevent the occurrence of such marriages. It can introduce probation periods within which marriage should take full force as well as follow ups for the marriages that have already taken place. In addition, the sponsors must take the responsibility to ensure that their spouses are genuine in their claims. In case of a misrepresentation, the immigrant spouse must be deported and obliged to make financial compensation to their victims. References Center for Migration . 2000. Migration today. Center for Migration Studies of Canada. Haines, D and Rosenblum, K. 1999. Illegal immigration in Canada. Greenwood Publishing Group. Legomsky, S. 1992. Immigration law and policy. Toronto: Foundation Press. Magana, L. 2003. Straddling the border: immigration policy and the INS. Texas: University of Texas Press, Roger, D. & Otis, G. 2001. Debating Canadian immigration up to present. Toronto: Rowman & Littlefield, Ward, M, & Belanger, M. 2010. The Family Dynamic: A Canadian Perspective. Toronto: Cengage Learning, Read More