Serial Immigration Marriage

"There are older Canadian men who fall for young Russians or Chinese and agree to marry them despite the huge age discrepancy, and then the women walk out on them. There are women who are divorcees, never been married, older, and who are thrilled that they have found someone who is romantic and courts them. All these people are victims.
"I have many clients whose complaints I have passed on to the CBSA. These cases are a rip-off of the Canadian taxpayer." Julie Taub, Immigration lawyer

It's an old game, played for decades by would-be immigrants to Canada, wanting to fast-track the process with the help of Canadians interested in earning a few extra dollars. Immigration officers closely question the validity of claims of marriage knowing full well that many will end as soon as their practical application has been fulfilled.

It's a little ingenuous for anyone associated with immigration in Canada to claim not to know of the frequency of these manoeuvres, but there it is.

One fraud artist has been removed from Canada, in any event. Thousands left to go. But it's highly unlikely those that have entered the country using this illegal but useful ploy, will have to suffer the consequences. The sole reason that Fode Mohamed Soumah of Guinea was targeted and removed by Canada Border Agency officials is because the woman who married him in good faith was outraged by the blatant use the man made of her trusting willingness to share her life with him.

She thought she was finally in the company of a man whom she could count on, to share her life and her dreams of married contentment. It took all of three weeks after marrying her for him to inform her he was heading for Montreal from where they lived so briefly together in Ottawa, and he was looking for a divorce. Her shocked reaction was one of betrayal. That she had been abused in this way, and used for the convenience she represented.

And since a sponsor must sign a legal agreement with the government that they will be responsible for the upkeep of anyone they bring over as an immigrant, it was clear that her husband of such a short duration had done his homework. He warned her, as he left that should she make a fuss it was his intention to claim welfare, and she would have to pay the financial piper, as a result.

In fact, many people who sponsor relatives, agreeing to assist them financially, fail to live up to that stipulation. They just ignore the legal papers they've signed, and the taxpaying public picks up the tab. It's rare that the government will prosecute anyone for their failure to live up to the agreement of familial financial responsibility.

For Lainie Towell, an Ottawa performance artist and dancer who had met her future husband on a trip to West Africa where she had gone to become familiar with local dance, it was serendipitous that she had met such an appealing man. She met him on subsequent trips, and they married in 2007. And Lainie Towell initiated the process of application so her husband could come to Canada.

And it took all of three weeks for him to move on, leaving her stunned at the situation.

Lainie Towell married Fode Mohamed Soumah of Guinea in 2007. He left her three weeks later and was deported this weekend.Photograph by: Pat Mcgrath, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen

"Imagine what it was like. I brought this man home and introduced him to all my friends and my family, all my dance students. Then my prince turned into a frog, and I'd been defrauded. I felt completely ashamed and embarrassed." Which led her to do something about the situation. She lodged complaints with the Citizenship and Immigration Department, and then spoke publicly of how she had been heartlessly manipulated.

Once she began receiving public attention she started receiving support from women's groups, and Immigration took notice. The Border Services Agency began to receive reports of suspected marriage fraud, receiving about 200 leads on additional such cases. And Minister Jason Kenney has looked into the previously-overlooked scheme that has proven to be successful for many others eager to enter Canada by any means possible.

Regulatory changes are under review and it may not be quite so simple in future to conduct this kind of immigration fraud. Women who willingly took part in the charade on a revolving door succession of 'marriages' will no longer be able to count on their previously handsome earnings for co-operation, with a five-year ban on the sponsored 'spouse' able to sponsor another mate, to halt the cycle.