The Minister of Immigration just announced that they will be cracking down on people who fraudulently obtain permanent residence or citizenship in Canada. See article from Globe & Mail here
Many Canadian citizens who were not born in this country don’t realize that their citizenship can actually be revoked if the government thinks that it was obtained through “misrepresentation.” This has far wider implications than most people appreciate because the government actually applies an extraordinarily broad interpretation to the word “misrepresentation.”
According to the Immigration Act, a “misrepresentation” can occur not only by directly providing the government with incorrect or misleading information but also by indirectly withholding any material information. Also, it makes no difference if the misrepresentation was intentional or not. That means that even if you honestly forget to put some piece of information on your immigration application form, it can be considered a misrepresentation and have potentially very serious consequences.
People should be particularly careful around immigration consultants and lawyers who make promises that sound too good to be true. Unscrupulous counsel will often provide misleading information on their clients’ forms in an attempt to quickly get someone status in Canada. As a victim, you might find out 10 years after you received citizenship that you are now being deported from Canada because your counsel made misrepresentations on your behalf even that counsel thought they were just helping you at the time.
If you think you might be at risk of losing your PR or Citizenship status, give us a call so you can learn how to protect yourself and your loved ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment