What do you do if you’re the victim of Marriage Fraud?

What do you do if you’re the victim of marriage fraud?

One question that is relevant is when your spouse came to Canada. Subject to some exceptions, anyone that came to Canada after October 25, 2012, needs to stay with their spouse for two years. In my opinion, however, Jason Kenney’s reforms will simply mean more unfounded claims of abuse (as this is one of the exceptions to the 2 year rule).

The fact of the matter is, whether your spouse (that has simply used you to come to this country) came before October 25, 2012 or after, you will need to report the marriage fraud to Citizenship Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration made it clear that the government is taking action on marriage fraud. However, despite the fact that Jason Kenney has said the “jig” is up on marriage fraud and all of the publicization of a “crack-down” the reality is far different. All too often CIC and the CBSA do not take action on even clear cases of marriage fraud.

As a result, I haved filed actions at the Federal Court to compel the Federal Government to take action on their promises. One such action has received leave by Justice Mactavish. This matter will be heard in January and may well set a precedent. In this case, my client married his wife and sponsored her to Canada. After arriving she went straight to her relatives’ home and told him that she had no intention of remaining with him and that she was “free”.

My client, distraught and hurt, went to CIC the next day. He called CIC numerous times. He called the police. They came and confirmed that he appeared to be the victim of marriage fraud. CIC/CBSA opened a file in December 2011. They then did nothing. Ultimately, CBSA has chosen to close the file *after* we obtained leave from the Federal Court.

I am looking forward to examining the manager of CBSA who provided an affidavit in support of his decision to close this file. Unfortunately, there is no oversight of the CBSA despite numerous recommendations in support of same. I am looking forward to giving my client his day in court after his numerous failed efforts in seeking redress from the government departments that are tasked with upholding the integrity of our immigration system.