Beware of Canadian Immigration consultants abroad
Last week Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney visited India in order to discuss how the country’s police force can deal with immigration consultants who guarantee their clients a life in Canada through fraudulent means.
As Kenney left, he said that officials in the Indian government had promised to increase the severity of punishments doled out to the immigration consultants. The immigration consultants are known to provide prospective immigrants with fraudulent documents with their visa applications that later get rejected.
However, India’s director general of the Punjab police force said, “There is no such problem. Immigration fraud cases that are there are being investigated properly, we have no difficulty.”
Since meeting with the Indian government in 2009 to discuss the same issue, Kenney said, “It seems to be a hit and miss. There has been no ongoing work with our consulate in Punjab. There has been no ongoing work with our consulate… it’s unbelievable what’s going on up there.”
In previous years, most Indian permanent resident visas to Canada were in the family class category with only less than one-third in the economic class category. However, during the first three months of 2010 the situation flip-flopped, with 71 per cent of the visas economic class visas.
Avoid Canadian Immigration consultants that urge you to lie or provide false documents
While it’s not clear if progress will be made on the Indian side, The Government of Canada has been posting job ads for a regulatory body for immigration consultants over here lately. Until that gets underway, the lesson to be learned is that if an immigration consultant provides any sort of false documents it’s best to get away from the situation as soon as possible.
Intake
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
