Thousands of immigrants from around the world, including some from the Caribbean, may be kicked out of Canada or prevented from returning because of immigration fraud.
About 6 500 nationals from at least 100 countries are now receiving letters from Canadian immigration authorities informing them that their landed immigrant status or citizenship is to be revoked because they lied in application forms or may have used other illegal means to enter or remain in Canada.
Officials in Ottawa have declined to be specific about the Caribbean immigrants caught up in the illegal scheme.
Barbados’ Ottawa-based High Commissioner to Canada Evelyn Greaves said his office had not been informed of any Barbadians being caught up in the illegal practices.
“We have not been advised that any Barbadians were involved in this,” he said.
Canada’s Ministry of Immigration is moving to revoke the legal status of thousands of foreign-born residents, some of whom made false statements about their income, perils they face at home for political and other factors, about where they were living or their ability to maintain themselves in the North American country.
In some cases, they may have gone so far as to obtain public assistance or tax refunds based on the bogus information.
About a fifth of the immigration fraudsters are said to be Lebanese but others from different nations have been – and are being – investigated in what is being called the most extensive immigration fraud sweep in Canadian history.
Canada moved earlier this year to strip about 2 000 immigrants of their naturalized citizenship or permanent residency status, compared with 47 in the decades since the Canadian Citizenship Act came into force in the 1940s.
Some of the immigrants being targeted claimed they were living in Canada when they were not. Others filed false income tax returns which were then used to get refunds for child care and property taxes as well as provincial sales tax credits.
Yet another group, mostly permanent resident immigrants, claimed they were living in Canada when they had left the country and returned home; they returned to Canada periodically to keep their legal landed status intact by using bogus addresses in Canada.
In order to secure citizenship, permanent residents must show proof that they lived in Canada for at least three of the last four years before applying. It is believed, but not confirmed, that some West Indians may have secured landed immigrant status and then returned to their birthplaces. (TB)
