By Jasminee Sahoye

Visa officers in missions overseas are placing more emphasis on screening out fraudulent marriages before issuing a visa to a spouse coming to Canada.

This move follows reports of a number of marriages of convenience whereby Canadians marry someone overseas and when the spouse arrives in Canada, the couple splits up shortly after.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney recently told members of the community media that the visa officers in the overseas missions "spend an awful lot of time" doing interviews with the sponsoring spouses to find out more about the marriages.

"Our officers are trained to recognize that there are in some cultures, the tradition of arranged marriages and so there may be a limited contact or personal knowledge between the applicant and the sponsor."

However, the minister said that visa officers are doing more leg work to determine whether these arranged marriages are bona fide.

"It's very difficult for us to deal with someone who has already come to Canada and become a permanent resident on the basis of a fraudulent spousal sponsorship because once they are here that means that we've already accepted their word or the word of the sponsoring spouse in Canada. Once the person lands here then (leaves the Canadian spouse) it's very difficult for us to prove that it was not a real marriage."

Kenney said he plans to hold consultations during the Summer and into the Fall with members of the immigrant communities to hear their suggestions on how they could deal with what he termed marriages of convenience.

"The sad thing is that legitimate married couples end up getting hurt by all the fake marriages that are in the system and occasionally a legitimate couple gets rejected because our visa officers have to be so vigilant about all the fake marriages in the system."

Meanwhile, the minister recently met with Canadian Against Immigration Fraud, (CAIF) a non-profit organization that helps victims of immigration fraud by providing emotional support and renders assistance to the Canadian government by supplying information collected as a result of research from victims of immigration fraud.

Among the issues discussed with the minister and recommendations made are that after arriving in Canada, if any sponsored person leaves his/her sponsor with in a short period (within 3 years ), this should be considered a marriage of convenience and is misrepresentation. It is a violation of Section 4 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulation (IRPR) and Section 40 (1) and 127 of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

The immigration officer must write the report under Section 44 (1) and matter be referred to an inadmissibility hearing and the complaint must be investigated with in a reasonable time and the complainant must be informed about the progress in investigation of their complaint.

CAIF said they have found that 90 per cent of complaints of abuse are false and are fabricated to misuse the system. The complaint of abuse is a criminal matter and is not a immigration matter. They are requesting that unless it is proved and a person is convicted of abuse, no consideration shall be given to a complaint of abuse in the determination of inadmissibility

The organization is also calling for an amendment to the IRPA whereby no sponsored person under spousal sponsorship program shall be granted a Permanent Residence status for three years from the date of his/her arrival In Canada. They have to prove that the marriage is genuine and working.

Also, CAIF said any complaint of abuse shall be referred to a panel who will hear both the sponsor and sponsored spouse and decide whether the complaint is genuine.