Ottawa, March 13, 2014 — Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander today encouraged potential newcomers to use authorized immigration representatives to avoid becoming victims of fraud.

March is Fraud Prevention Month and this year Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has partnered with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC) to promote awareness of authorized immigration representatives and what services they can provide.

For Fraud Prevention Month 2014, CIC has developed a new video which urges newcomers to avoid becoming the victim of a “disappearing act” and explains where they can obtain information on immigration representatives that are authorized to deal with the Government of Canada.

Unscrupulous and unauthorized representatives weaken Canada’s immigration system, cost taxpayers money, and slow down the processing of valid applications. Under Canadian law, only authorized immigration representatives can charge a fee to help someone apply for a visa to come to Canada. If a newcomer uses an unauthorized representative, their application may be refused and they could risk becoming victims of fraud.

To learn more about choosing and using a representative, visit CIC’s website.

Quick facts

• Of nearly 6,500 permanent residents who have been flagged as being linked to major investigations, 1,894 people have withdrawn or abandoned their citizenship applications – a sign of success with our immigration fraud deterrence measures.
• Regulations, which came into force on June 30, 2011, impose penalties on unauthorized representatives who provide, or offer to provide, advice or representation for a fee at any stage of an immigration application or proceeding. If the court finds a person guilty, the following penalties would apply:
  • on summary conviction, the person is subject to a fine of up to $20,000, or up to six months imprisonment, or both;
  • on conviction on indictment, they are subject to a fine of up to $100,000 or up to two years imprisonment, or both.
• Bill C-24 reinforces the value of citizenship by cracking down on fraud and ensuring Canadian citizenship is only offered to those who play by the rules. Proposed measures include:
  • stronger penalties for fraud and misrepresentation (a maximum fine of $100,000 and/or five years in prison);
  • expanding the grounds to bar an application for citizenship to include foreign criminality which will help improve program integrity; and
  • making it an offence for unauthorized individuals to knowingly represent or advise a person on a citizenship application or hearing for a fee. 

Would-be migrants who were dumped from Canada's visa queue when Ottawa axed its millionaire migration scheme have won the right to challenge the decision in the courts, in a key legal victory for the mostly Chinese applicants.

A group of 95 disgruntled applicants were granted leave by Canada's Federal Court on Friday to seek a judicial review of February's decision that resulted in about 50,000 rich Chinese having their immigration applications terminated.

Toronto immigration lawyer Tim Leahy, who organised the case, said on Saturday that anyone wishing to join the legal action should do so before an initial hearing in Toronto in five weeks.

Leahy, who heads the Forefront Migration consultancy, said the decision to simply eliminate backlogged applications when it was announced that the Immigrant Investor Programme was being ended represented "moral bankruptcy" by the Canadian government.

Under the controversial scheme, applicants worth a minimum of C$1.6 million (HK$11.2 million) received visas for themselves and their immediate family in return for loaning the government C$800,000 interest-free for five years, after which the loan was returned in full.

The programme has been a key means of migration for rich Hongkongers and mainland Chinese over the past 28 years. Immigration data provided by Leahy showed that of the 66,434 undecided individual visa applications in the federal immigrant investor backlog as of last July, 50,131 had been lodged via Hong Kong. Virtually all are believed to be mainland Chinese.

Leahy said that Canada's immigration minister, Chris Alexander, and his predecessor, Jason Kenney, "only want to boast that they cleared the backlogs, not that they attracted immigrants likely to contribute to Canada".

Friday's court decision applies to 95 applicants, of whom 86 are mainland Chinese. But Leahy said that a total of 122 would-be immigrants had now joined the case, and he expected the decision to apply to all who decided to join the case before an initial hearing in Toronto on April 15. Would-be participants can contact Leahy via the unfaircic.com website.

Leahy's case was launched in 2012, after Ottawa stopped accepting new applications to its immigrant investor programme. The case was originally intended to expedite the processing of his clients' applications.

However, the decision to scrap the scheme and dump the tens of thousands of backlogged applications vastly increases the potential implications of the case; those who were in the queue now have no incentive to simply wait for their cases to be assessed, rather than seeking legal redress.

[The ministers] only want to boast that they cleared the backlogs
TIM LEAHY, LAWYER
The decision was announced on February 11, tucked in as a provision of Canada's federal budget. The termination will only go into effect when the budget is passed by parliament at the end of June.

"Because it takes 90 days for pleadings to be complete, it is unlikely that counsel who initiated litigation after Mr Alexander declared his intention [to scrap the scheme] will have a hearing date before the Budget Bill, in which the kill provision is buried, is passed," Leahy said.

After the April hearing to set parameters, the case will likely be argued before the Federal Court in early June, thus beating the scheme's official termination. Leahy's cases have been compiled under the name of one Chinese applicant, Baoxian Jia.

Leahy said it was not too late for others to join the lawsuit. "I would expect [it will be agreed in April] to have the ruling on Baoxian Jia apply to additional federal investor applicants, who join the Unfair CIC group by a date yet to be set," he said.

Friday's Federal Court ruling granted the applicants leave to seek judicial review of "the decisions of undisclosed persons made on unknown dates not to honour the pledge to assess and finalise within the foreseeable future the applicants' applications for permanent residence".

The ruling said the applications had been lodged at the Canadian consulates in Hong Kong, London, New Delhi, Ankara and Pretoria.

The judge, Anne Mactavish, allowed the 95 cases to be consolidated for the hearing.

Leahy cited a South China Morning Post interview with Alexander as evidence that the minister was displaying "a complete lack of sincerity and callous disregard for immigrant applications". In the interview, conducted on February 12, Alexander said the government still wanted the axed applicants to seek other ways into Canada.

"He did not explain why he is abolishing all their files without having first devised a replacement programme," Leahy said.

Current regulationsNew regulations, as of June 1, 2014Applicants must show that they intend to pursue studies in Canada when applying for a study permit.

Applicants must enrol in and continue to pursue studies in Canada.  Failure to do so could lead to removal from Canada.

Applicants may apply for a study permit to pursue studies at any educational institution in Canada.

Study permits will only be issued to successful applicants who are pursuing studies at an educational institution that has been designated to receive international students.

Study permit holders pursuing studies at publicly-funded and certain privately-funded post-secondary institutions must apply for an Off-Campus Work Permit to be able to work up to 20 hours per week off-campus during the academic session and full-time during scheduled breaks.

Study permits will automatically authorize the holder to work off-campus for up to 20 hours per week during the academic session and full-time during scheduled breaks without the need to apply for a separate work permit. The study permit holder must be pursuing academic, vocational or professional training of six months or more that leads to a degree, diploma or certificate at a designated institution.

Any international student can apply for a Co-Op Work Permit if a co-op placement is an integral element of their course of study.

Only international students who are pursuing studies at a secondary school or at a designated institution may apply for a Co-Op Work Permit if a co-op placement is an integral part of their course of study. 

Visitors may not apply for a study permit from within Canada

Visitors may apply for a study permit from within Canada if they are at the pre-school, primary or secondary level, are on an academic exchange or a visiting student at a designated learning institution, or have completed a course or program of study that is a condition for acceptance at a designated learning institution.

International students who have completed their studies but hold valid study permits can remain legally in Canada until the expiration of their study permit.

A study permit becomes invalid 90 days following the completion of studies unless the foreign national also possesses a valid work permit or another authorization to remain in Canada.

There are no references in existing regulations that clearly state that Registered Indians who are also foreign nationals are exempt from the requirement to obtain a study permit.

Registered Indians who are also foreign nationals may study in Canada without a study permit as they have the right of entry into Canada.

Study permit holders are not authorized to work after the completion of their studies while awaiting approval of their Post-Graduation Work Permit

Eligible international graduates will be authorized to work full-time after their studies are completed until a decision is made on their application for a Post-Graduation Work Permit.