Marriage Fraud? We Can Represent You
When it comes to Canadian immigration, people do many things to gain Permanent Residency. Some apply legally yet others choose to try to enter Canada through immigration scams like Marriage Fraud.
What is a Marriage Fraud?
A marriage scam or fraud occurs between a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident and a person living abroad. The person living outside Canada enters into a fake marriage and asks his/her spouse to sponsor them in to Canada. Once the sponsorship is complete and after having received their PR card, the spouse lives for the obligatory period of 2 years with their partner before filing for a divorce and parting ways.
In this case, immigration is sought only for a Permanent Residency within Canada. The marriage is not genuine. The sponsor is used only to gain entry in to Canada. In some cases, the person sponsoring (Canadian PR or Citizen) is completely unaware that his/her partner has entered in to the marriage only for immigration.
What happens next?
When a partner decides to end their ‘marriage of convenience’ it can be devastating for the sponsor. Apart from a broken marriage, there is a tremendous amount of emotional stress and tension during the period. In some cases, the person leaving may even harass the sponsor if he/she still wants to bring things back together.
Your rights
If a sponsor feels that he has been framed and the marriage was a fraud, he has several legal recourse available. The first thing which should be done is to consult with a specialist legal immigration consultant. This consultant must be an expert at dealing with marriage fraud. You must submit all facts of your entire immigration case to him, leaving nothing out. Together you can represent your case before Canadian Immigration Authorities.
If your case is genuine and the Immigration Officials feel that it was a true case of misrepresentation and fraud, they have the power to not grant a renewal of Permanent Residency to the sponsor.
Remember, Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials are trained to identify genuine immigration applications. They have multiple ways to spot marriage fraud, including:
- Document/paperwork verification,
- Residential visits to people’s homes
- In-depth interviews with both sponsors and applicants
Most important of all – Do not lose hope. In case of an immigration fraud, you must be aware your rights as a sponsor. You have the right to defend yourself and must definitely do so.