Thread: Canada Feds to crack down on crooked immigration consultants

Canada
Feds to crack down on crooked immigration consultants

By BRYN WEESE, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: June 8, 2010 10:49am

OTTAWA - Crooked immigration consultants beware. The feds are gunning for you.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Tuesday the federal government is moving to come down hard on illegitimate Canadian immigration consultants.

In fact, the new law Kenney is introducing is called - to avoid any confusion - the Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act.

If passed, it would become a criminal offense to offer immigration services without being a registered consultant.

The act also calls for a new regulatory watchdog to monitor practitioners, who are currently self-governed by the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants that was created in 2004.

"While most immigration consultants working in Canada are legitimate and ethical, it is clear that immigration fraud remains a widespread threat to the integrity of Canada's immigration system," Kenney said Tuesday. "Crooked immigration consultants victimize people who dream of immigrating to Canada."

Kenney added the bogus consultants even encourage prospective immigrants to lie on the applications, concoct bogus refugee stories, and enter into "sham marriages" with Canadian citizens.

"This undermines the integrity and fairness of Canada's immigration system," he said.

Recently, the self-governing CSIC - mandated to regulate the industry - has been criticized for being toothless, unfocused, secretive, and "mired" in litigation with its members, according to the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants, which is made up of CSIC members.

In a recent news statement, the association's past-president said the rumoured changes being proposed by the government were welcome.

The group has even published a document on its website: Seven reasons why CSIC must change.

“CSIC has no mandate to prosecute unregulated agents, and has been challenged with governance problems ever since three initial directors resigned in protest over spending practices in 2005,â€

and why cant the US do the same damn thing?

oh wait i forgot, mexico wont let us