Monday, November 29, 2010

HIGHER FAILURE RATE FOR NEW CITIZENSHIP TEST

This should not surprise anyone, since the old test was basically a joke. Citizenship is something people must earn with residency and integration, not an automatic right or something that should be viewed as a gift. Applicants should prepare and consult legal counsel to handle their applications appropriately.


More people flunking tougher Canadian citizenship tests - thestar.com



More people flunking tougher Canadian citizenship tests
November 28, 2010

Dean Beeby,


OTTAWA—Failure rates for immigrants writing citizenship tests have soared since the spring, when tougher questions and revamped rules made it harder for newcomers to become Canadian.

The new test, introduced March 15, was based on a bulked-up citizenship guide released a year ago to give immigrants a richer picture of Canada’s history, culture, law and politics.

The 63-page guide, Discover Canada, replaced a slimmer volume dating from 1995 that had fewer facts to memorize. The failure rate for the old citizenship test, with questions drawn from the smaller guide, ranged between four and eight per cent.

Failure rates for the new test, however, rocketed to about 30 per cent when it was first introduced — prompting officials to revise the rules to avoid clogging the system with thousands of would-be Canadians who, because they had flunked, often had to plead their cases before busy citizenship judges.

A reworked test introduced Oct. 14 is helping to cut the national failure rate to about 20 per cent, still far higher than historic levels and making the exam-hall experience much more nerve-wracking for newcomers.

Hundred of documents outlining the bumpy introduction of the new tests were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

“This is the highest number of fails I have seen in my time here with CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) doing the test,” said a harried official at a Mississauga, Ont., office on March 19 this year, where 15 of 43 people had failed that day.

The old and new tests both have 20 multiple-choice questions and a 30-minute time limit. Only those citizenship wannabes aged 18 to 54 years are required to write the test, which is available in French and English.

But the pass mark for the test introduced March 15 was set at 75 per cent, meaning at least 15 of the 20 answers had to be correct. That compares with just 60 per cent, or 12 right answers, for the old exam.

The impact of the tough new standards was dramatic: shocked officials at testing centres across the country reported massive failure rates in the first sittings.

“I couldn’t believe it, it’s the highest fail rate I have ever seen here,” one Toronto-area official reported by email to headquarters.

An internal survey of 35 testing centres across Canada, carried out between April 19 and June 24, showed an average of one in four people were flunking. At some centres — such as the busy Etobicoke office in Toronto — it was one in three.

And while many people under the previous regime finished the test within 15 minutes, the new exam had most people sweating for the full half-hour.

People who failed the old test were automatically referred to a citizenship judge. In 2008-2009, for example, 9,500 applicants who blew the test had to spend up to an hour with a judge to argue they were still worthy of citizenship.

Worried that the tougher tests could swamp the system, officials decided that applicants who flunked would be allowed to rewrite. And in the revamped test introduced Oct. 14, the department further eased the rules by eliminating a long-standing policy requiring correct answers to a few mandatory questions.

“We anticipate that the pass rate will settle in the 80 per cent to 85 per cent range, which would indicate that the test is not too easy or too difficult,” said department spokeswoman Karen Shadd.

She added that the test questions are being shuffled more often to help end what the department believes was rampant cheating under the old system.

“In the past, with the old test, some people would buy the answers from unofficial sources,” Shadd said in an email.

“After paying for the answers, they would memorize them in order to pass the test. This accounted, in part, for a much higher pass rate.”

Shadd also said the option of rewriting the test is only a temporary measure implemented to deal with the transition to the new exam.

She declined to provide an example of the test but said typical questions are either fact-based — “Name two Canadian symbols” — or conceptual, such as “What is the meaning of the Remembrance Day poppy?” Sample questions are included in Discover Canada.

The internal survey of 35 testing centres in late spring found the Etobicoke office in Toronto had the highest failure rate at 34.9 per cent, followed closely by Surrey, B.C. (33.7), Winnipeg (31.5), Scarborough in eastern Toronto (31.3) and Niagara Falls, Ont. (30.4). Officials declined to speculate on why these were the worst performers, but said education levels rather than mother tongue appear to be a big factor.

Citizenship and Immigration administers about 150,000 citizenship tests each year. The current 75 per cent pass mark is the same as in Australia and the United Kingdom, but higher than the 60 per cent set by the United States.

Shadd would not say how the new tests have increased the department’s workload, only that “there were times of heavier than normal workloads during the most intensive monitoring phase when we initially implemented the new test.”

Saturday, November 27, 2010

TREAD CAREFULLY WITH "RECRUITERS"

Thsi story seems to be quite common. As with everything else, there are usually two sides....and the bottom line is that people cannot come to Canada if their jobs do not exist.

Three Filipino workers face deportation days before Christmas

Friday, November 26, 2010

IRISH MIGRANTS PREFER CANADA

Irish Will Emigrate, But Fewer To New York - WNYC


WNYC News

Irish Will Emigrate, But Fewer To New York

Sunday, November 28, 2010
By Marianne McCune

In the past, when Ireland's economy suffered, many Irish came to New York to find work. But with Ireland's current downturn, the founder of New York’s most prominent Irish newspaper says the Irish are more likely to head elsewhere, with more attractive immigration policies..

Tens of thousands of Irish will probably leave Ireland over the next couple years and Niall O'Dowd of the Irish Voice said he sees them choosing London, Canada and Australia over the United States.

“There is no welcoming light shining from the Statue of Liberty these days,” O’Dowd said. “The Irish who've come here for 250 years are really unable to come here legally in any great numbers.”

Immigration policies in Canada and Australia are designed to attract skilled workers and Irish emigrants tend to fit that bill. The U.S. issues relatively few skilled worker visas. So many of the Irish who moved here in recent decades did so illegally. O'Dowd said that is less likely to happen now, with the U.S. deporting more immigrants than ever.

“The word is out in Ireland that this is a very unwelcome country to immigrants,” he said, “and that Irish need not apply essentially.”

O'Dowd is among immigrant advocates pushing the U.S. to issue more work visas and a path to legalization for people in the country illegally.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

IRISH IN CANADA

This is the new reality. What the article does not discuss, unfortunately, is that many of those who come under the Working Holiday Program (WHP) will not be able to obtain permanent residency as they are working in industries that are not at the right occupational level. Also, the WHP is only temporary, and places aer limited. A better solution is to consult and immigration lawyer with expertise in immigration matters to map out a strategy that will enable a person to achieve permanent residency and a well-paying job in the long term.

Irish economic refugees in Toronto - The Globe and Mail

SEEING THE FUTURE?

This is quite interesting, although unsurprising.

'The World in 2050' : The Arctic and everything below Greenspace Los Angeles Times

Monday, November 22, 2010

"LOST CANADIANS" A LEGAL ANOMALY

Very unusual cases due to a legal anomaly....


Frustrated but fighting: 'Lost Canadians' push Ottawa to make them true Canucks - Winnipeg Free Press


Frustrated but fighting: 'Lost Canadians' push Ottawa to make them true Canucks
By: Diana Mehta, The Canadian Press

Posted: 21/11/2010 3:32 AM | Comments: 3 | Last Modified: 21/11/2010 12:42 PM

TORONTO - Jackie Scott considers herself a true Canuck. The 65-year-old grew up in Ontario, paid taxes and even voted in federal elections. But in Ottawa's eyes, she isn't Canadian.

The government's core argument? She was born out of wedlock before 1947.

Scott was born in England to a Canadian serviceman and a British mother who weren't married. Because she came along in 1945, before Canada's first citizenship law went into effect, she isn't eligible to take on her father's citizenship, even though both her parents later married in Canada.

"It’s really, really upsetting," said Scott. "All my family is Canadian. I'm the only one who's not."

Scott is one of the so-called "lost Canadians" who have been left behind.

The government amended its laws last year to give children born abroad out of wedlock equal rights to citizenship. But the changes only applied to those who were born in 1947 or later. For Scott, it seems the government is deliberately turning a blind eye.

"At a certain point we're going to be too old for them to have to worry about us," Scott complained. "Are they waiting for all of us to die?"

Scott only found out she wasn't legally a Canadian when the government turned down her request for a citizenship certificate in 2005.

"They considered me a bastard,” she said. "Isn't that discrimination?"

For people like Scott who live in Canada, the worst part of not having Canadian citizenship is a lack of long-term security. Even a permanent resident can be stripped of their status and be deported for any number of reasons.

Determined to secure her place, Scott applied for a special grant of citizenship in 2008. It was denied.

Her frustration with the government deepened when she learned her parents had their marriage legitimized under Ontario’s Legitimization Act. While sifting through musty old documents, she even found a letter from Citizenship and Immigration Canada sent in 1955 that legitimizes her birth.

Fifty-five years later, however, the government refuses to acknowledge its prior rulings.

Scott refuses to give up. She has since resubmitted her citizenship application, but has yet to hear back.

Now technically a U.S. citizen, she divides her time between Surrey, B.C., and Arizona. She was able to get a U.S. passport because her husband worked in the States, but she only did so because she was desperate.

"All my ties are in Canada," she said. "I am still fighting for my Canadian citizenship."

Denise Tessier knows how it feels. The 65-year-old was also born in England under very similar circumstances, but has lived in Canada since she was two months old.

Unlike Scott, Tessier was offered a special grant of citizenship, but rejected it.

"I think it’s a huge insult," said Tessier, who is waiting for the government to right the system for all remaining "lost Canadians."

Tessier found out she was stateless when her older sister applied for a driver’s license in Manitoba, a process that requires proof of citizenship. The sisters appeared before a parliamentary committee studying the cases of “lost Canadians” in 2007.

The committee was moved by their stories and offered the pair a special grant of citizenship. Her sister took it, but Tessier refused, on the grounds that if she deserves citizenship, so do all the others facing the same hardship.

"They’ve not done the right thing," said the B.C. resident, who now has a British passport. "I’m waiting for them to do the right thing."

Another would-be Canadian citizen is fighting a similar battle with Ottawa under different circumstances: he was born abroad while his parents were married.

The 65-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's in the country illegally, was born in 1945 to a Canadian mother and an American father. The law at the time considered married women to be the property of their husbands, which meant his right to Canadian citizenship expired before he was even born.

Now, more than six decades later, he is a man forced to go underground after repeated unsuccessful attempts to gain citizenship. He is officially a U.S. resident, but is desperate to stay in Canada to look after his ailing 92-year-old mother.

"I’m entitled to this citizenship as a right," he said. "I'm absolutely fighting for it."

The man, who has no public health insurance, no pension and no SIN number, is pinning his hopes on advocates like Don Chapman, who founded an online group for lost Canadians and has long been urging Ottawa to recognize the citizens that were left behind.

"This is one of the most shameful stories on Canada," said Chapman, who travels the country speaking on the plight of lost Canadians. "The laws are different depending on who you are."

For its part, the government has been clear all along that the 2009 amendments wouldn’t resolve the problems of all lost Canadians.

"Those rare cases where the facts turn on circumstances of births outside Canada prior to January 1, 1947, and where citizenship is in doubt, would remain," then-immigration minister Diane Finley said in 2007.

Finley also explained that the government would continue to judge individual cases on their merits and bestow special grants of citizenship where appropriate.

That’s the same approach carried on by Finley's successor, Jason Kenney, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"The government will continue to address any remaining cases individually and on a priority basis," department spokeswoman Kelli Fraser told The Canadian Press.

Fraser also said the department has a process for situations where there is an urgent need for a citizenship certificate.

For University of Victoria law professor Donald Galloway, that approach just doesn't go far enough.

"When the recent legislation came in, the government felt they had to draw the line somewhere and decided, I think quite arbitrarily, they would draw the line at 1947," said Galloway, who has been following the saga of the lost Canadians for years.

"Having a clear line drawn was more important than making sure that fairness and equities were actually satisfied."

Even after the new changes to the law came into effect, Galloway said the general feeling was that the government would take care of those born before the cutoff date. More than a year later, that doesn’t seem to be happening.

"What I think we’re seeing is a number of people who are being stonewalled by the government," Galloway said.

He suggested establishing a list of criteria — taking into account age, time spent in Canada and contributions to the country — that would guide bureaucrats on how to deal sympathetically with such cases.

But for someone who has never questioned their citizenship, sifting through reams of case law and then making a case before the government can seem formidable.

"A lot of people must just give up," Galloway said.

"The government may actually be waiting for people to die off, and it’s shocking. The stories really speak for themselves, they all add up to a very callous approach."

Friday, November 19, 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

SERGIO KARAS MODERATED SESSION IN PARIS

I was privileged to moderate the session "Global Privacy, data protection and security ac cross borders" at the ABA Fall conference in Paris, France, on November 4, 2010. The setting was the stunning "Napoleon" room at the Westin Paris Hotel. The session was attended by over 60 lawyers and the speakers included some of the most important players in European privacy law.

CHINESE STUDENTS SHUN AUSTRALIA

China enrolments in free-fall The Australian

China enrolments in free-fall

Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent
From: The Australian November 17, 2010 12:00AM Increase

AUSTRALIA is facing an "abyss" of falling enrolments from China.
This comes as the risk-averse market takes in news of yet another tightening of study-linked immigration rules.

Education agents, who account for at least 80 per cent of student applications to overseas universities, are concerned the latest changes by Labor in the past 12 months discriminate against the undergraduate and feeder courses that make up at least 50 per cent of the Chinese market.

"The situation is the most severe it has been in past 20 years," Li Ping, chief executive of Aoji, one of China's biggest education agents, said.

"Universities from the US, Britain and Canada are developing market shares rapidly, but Australian immigration regulations are not having a positive effect."

Mr Li said compared to last year, enrolments for 2010 from China have declined by as much as 40 per cent. "I'm afraid a further downfall of 10 even to 20 per cent might now occur for next year," Mr Li said.

"If this momentum is not stopped, the Australian educational market will drop to an abyss, with a slim hope of getting out of it."

Agents and university representatives in China are also worried that tougher new English requirements will spook the risk-averse Chinese, sending students to rival countries.

"The new English requirements are incredibly severe, even I don't know if I could pass it, it's a major issue," said one Australian tertiary education representative who asked not to be named.

The new immigration rules came as clear evidence emerges that more welcoming policies instituted by the US in the past 18 months are winning Chinese students at Australia's expense.

Chinese student enrolments in the US have surged, increasing 30 per cent to 128,000 and represent more than 18 per cent of the total international student population in the country.

This makes China the No.1 source of international students in the US higher education system for the first time, according to a report released by the Washington-based Institute of International Education.

In China, at least 80 per cent of foreign student places are sold by government-approved third-party agents. Marketers from international universities and colleges train counsellors at the agents' offices in how to sell their courses.

Counsellors then meet students and try to find the institutions that will be the best fit, taking into account students' various educational and immigration needs, as well as their academic abilities and available funds.

In general, agents devote particular counsellors to certain countries or regions, depending upon demand. As demand changes, for instance the recent surge in preference towards study in the US, agents train more counsellors to sell courses into certain territories. Such decisions on staff training and resourcing are medium-term business decisions and influence where students are encouraged to go.

The HES has learned a number of leading agents have been moving staff from selling courses in Australia to selling courses in the US and Canada.

Additional reporting: Zhang Yufei


Monday, November 15, 2010

THE PITFALLS OF NOT HIRING A LAWYER

Here is another example of why people need a competent lawyer to represent them in immigration matters. If this woman would have sought legal representation, sh probably would not have made so many errors, or ignored the fact that her application was never made. This story seems a bit odd, no one can assume that they can simply "stay" without a formal approval.

Breastfeeding mom told to leave Canada


Breastfeeding mom told to leave Canada

By Susan Lazaruk, Postmedia NewsNovember 14, 2010

A B.C. woman, who says she’s being forced to leave the country by noon Monday despite being married to a Canadian and having three Canadian-born children, is worried the federal order will split her family apart.

Paula Terry, 48, said she’s been issued an exclusion order by Canada Border Services Agency that prevents her from returning to Canada for a year.

“They said they can arrest me if I don’t leave or they will issue a warrant for my arrest,” she said.

The mother of nine children, four of whom are adults living in the U.S., moved to Canada about 10 years ago. She married Ken LaBossiere, 55, an ironworker in 2004.

The couple have three children, ages eight, four and three, and live in Ladner, B.C. with Terry’s two teenage children from previous relationships.

She assumed she had the legal right to live in Canada, until this past summer.

“As soon as I got married and had Canadian kids, I stopped worrying (about my citizenship),” she said. “I really didn’t think I was here illegally. Until they came here in the summer. It was a bit of a shock.”

She said she paid the $500 fee to begin the sponsorship process, but suffers from dyslexia and post-traumatic stress disorder from living in an abusive relationship with her first husband and had trouble with filling it out.

The application, which required FBI checks among other data from the several states she has lived in, was returned as incomplete.

“I’m not really good at filling out forms,” she said. “If you saw the list of what they wanted you to do, it’s really daunting.”

She enlisted the help of a University of B.C. law student, who wrote that Terry’s removal from Canada would cause “undue hardship and irreparable harm” to the school-aged children and the three-year-old, who is still breastfeeding, as well as to LaBossiere.

Her children’s school principal wrote a letter urging officials to consider delaying the order until the end of the school year because “her absence from the family will bring disruption of routines, school attendance and emotional support provided by a mother for all the children.”


CBSA formally rejected Terry’s request for a deferral of the removal order on Nov. 9.

Terry said she doesn’t have friends or relatives to stay with in the U.S. and will likely check into a YMCA in Washington state with her three-year-old.

Immigration and Border Services officials weren’t available for comment Sunday.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

CANADA'S REFUGEE SYSTEM IS ABSURD

This is an interesting take on our much maligned and incompetent system plagued by political correctness, lack of common sense and stupidity, which makes it an easy target of those who take advantage of its inefficiency.

Chris Selley: Canada’s refugee system incapable of embarrassment Full Comment National Post

Thursday, November 11, 2010

NEW INVESTOR PROGRAM RULES UNVEILED

AFP: Canada doubles requirements for foreign investors


Canada doubles requirements for foreign investors
(AFP) – 9 hours ago

OTTAWA — The Canadian government has announced it is doubling requirements for foreign investors seeking to establish themselves in Canada, citing a high increase in demand.

Starting on December 1, foreign investors seeking to be enter Canada as an immigrant must have personal net worth of at least 1.6 million Canadian dollars (1.6 million US) and make an investment of 800,000 dollars (798,400 US) or more, Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in a statement.

The old criteria had specified 800,000 dollars and 400,000 dollars, respectively. The ministry said the old criteria, which had remained unchanged since 1999, were among the lowest compared to other countries with similar programs.

"These changes were necessary," said Jason Kenney, the minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism. "The requirements had not been increased in more than a decade and we need to keep pace with the changing economy."

In June, the investor program was suspended, namely because a high volume of applications was making wait times too long.

"Raising the requirements will help reduce the flow of applications while ensuring we attract experienced businesspeople who can make a more substantial contribution to the economy," the ministry said.

Kenney said the stricter criteria meant that "provinces and territories will receive more investment capital to put toward job creation and economic development projects."

Among the approximately 252,000 foreigners admitted as immigrants or refugees in Canada last year, a little over 12,000 -- five percent -- were considered immigrant investors, according to government data.

The ministry noted that a foreign investor must have a minimum net worth of 3.3 million Canadian dollars in order to immigrate to Britain under a similar status.

Australia asks for 2.2 million dollars (2.2 million US) in assets and the United States for a little over one million.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

HOW LAX IS AIR SECURITY?

This is what happens when political correctness takes precedence over common sense.

Air Canada screening under scrutiny after disguised passenger lands in Vancouver


Air Canada screening under scrutiny after disguised passenger lands in Vancouver


By Tobi Cohen, Douglas Quan And Amy Minsky, Postmedia News November 6, 2010

Air Canada's screening procedures are under investigation following the bizarre story of an Asian asylum seeker who boarded a flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver expertly disguised as an elderly Caucasian man.
A spokesman for Transport Minister Chuck Strahl said airlines are required to verify the identity of all passengers who appear to be 18 years or older as per identity screening regulations that were updated as recently as this fall.
"That means air carriers are supposed to look at a passenger's face to determine if they appear to be over 18, and if so, compare their physical appearance with their travel documents," John Babcock said.
What's not clear is whether those procedures were followed in this case and, according to the Canada Border Services Agency, which intercepted the man when he landed in Vancouver on Oct. 29, that's what authorities are looking into.
"Transport Canada is aware of the incident and is investigating whether the identity screening regulations were respected," the agency said.
According to the regulations, which were clarified Sept. 30 after a video surfaced of two veiled Muslim travellers boarding an Air Canada plane in Montreal, apparently without having to lift their niqabs to confirm their identities, the rules apply to domestic and international flights taking off or landing at a listed Canadian airport.
The regulation states passengers' faces must be screened against government-issued photo ID that shows the passenger's name, date of birth and gender. Alternatively, passengers can provide a restricted area identity card or two pieces of government-issued ID, at least one of which contains that information.
But airlines don't actually have any legal obligation to protect Canadian security or to enforce Canadian immigration law, said Richard Kurland, a policy analyst and immigration lawyer based in Vancouver. They are, however, subject to fines and penalties under terms of a transportation bond that air carriers have to post in order to gain access to Canada, he said.
"So for Air Canada, it's a business risk," Kurland said. "The government motivates carriers through the bond system. If you do a good job, and relatively few people enter Canada illicitly on your airline, you'll have lower fines and penalties."
Air carriers are, in most cases, prohibited from boarding passengers who don't resemble their photo ID, don't appear to be the right gender or age or if there's a major discrepancy between different ID items that have been presented, the government regulations say.
An individual who breaks the rules could face a fine of $5,000, while corporations may face $25,000 in fines.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said it appears the airline dropped the ball.
"I think that the problem here is coming from Air Canada itself," he told Global National. "Its employees are supposed to be verifying the boarding pass and a photo ID to confirm that the person holding the boarding pass is the right person."
Air Canada offered few explanations for what might have happened, noting the investigation is incomplete.
"It should be noted that there are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control, which Hong Kong-originating passengers must undergo," spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said.
Kurland speculated that the man went through domestic security at the airport before putting on his disguise, after which he likely swapped boarding passes with another passenger, then feigned mobility and communication issues to pass through gate security.
Conservative House leader and former transportation minister John Baird said the incident is of "deep concern" and that there will be a "full investigation."
According to a confidential CBSA intelligence report dated Nov. 1 and obtained by CNN, a "possible impostor" was identified by Air Canada Corporate Security after a seemingly elderly man was spotted with "younger-looking hands."
"During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged as an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s," the alert said.
It's believed the man swapped boarding passes with a U.S. citizen and passenger who was born in 1955.
Border services officers met the man at the gate in Vancouver and escorted him off the aircraft and through the primary inspection line, where he made a claim for refugee protection, the alert said. He's been detained pending a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
If there is a claim to refugee status, his case will join a three-year inventory behind hundreds of others who have used creative ways to enter Canada, Kurland said.
"Canada's immigration system is limited only by human ingenuity. It's a social-Darwin immigration maze," Kurland said. "People have used wigs, false glasses, costumes, wheelchairs, you name it, to get to Canada. If you're smart enough to manoeuvre the maze, you have some admirable qualities, and you might do well in Canada."
Although it appears Canadian regulations insist upon it, Charles Slepian, an aviation security expert with the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center based in Oregon, said passengers aren't always required to present identification upon boarding, given they've already cleared security and have a boarding pass for the flight.
He speculates the man may have initially been travelling within the country and cleared the first security hurdles as himself before putting on the disguise and acquiring a different boarding pass. That said, Slepian noted it would have been hard to get to the international departures area if he didn't have a passport and visa for international travel.
"Based on what I've heard it's extremely bizarre," he said. "I really don't know how he breached security."
Lloyd Easterling, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he can't recall a case of anyone attempting to get into the country wearing a mask, though he has come across other bizarre tales.
A couple of years ago, a woman had surgery to alter her fingerprints. She had a criminal record and would otherwise have been barred from entering the country.
One man, sitting in the back of a van, tried to pass himself off as a chair, he said, adding the man encased himself in fabric, went into a sitting position and used his arms as arm rests.
A spokeswoman for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa had few details about the incident and noted it was the first time she had heard of anybody trying to enter the country in a mask.
"I am also surprised to see how realistic it is," she said. "This is a single and special case. I believe both China and Canada will deal with this case in the light of law."
The confidential alert which, according to CBSA, will never be officially released, also contained three photos of the man. The first shows a thin, 20-something Asian man in a button-down striped shirt and a shaggy haircut, his eyes obscured.
The second shows him in a silicone old-man mask, which covers his chest and shoulders. An official's hand can be seen in the photo lifting a corner of the mask, which is draped over his shirt.
In the last photo, the mask is tucked into his shirt and he's wearing his full disguise, which includes a cardigan, glasses and a hat.
The man originally claimed to have only one piece of luggage, but the border officers found two more. One bag contained personal clothing, a second contained a pair of gloves and a third contained a "disguise kit," including a silicone-type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan.
The alert said the man donned the disguise for border officers, even mimicking the movements of an elderly person, and admitted he boarded the flight with the disguise on and removed it several hours later.
In addition to the boarding card, the man provided an Aeroplan card -- issued by Air Canada's frequent flyer program -- as identification when he boarded in Hong Kong. Neither boarding passes nor Aeroplan cards have dates of birth on them.
The man's name and home country have not been released, but CBSA officials referred to him as a "foreign national."
CBSA officials would only say that they "intercepted and detained" a traveller "attempting to enter Canada under false pretences."Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canada+screening+under+scrutiny+after+disguised+passenger+lands+Vancouver/3787824/story.html#ixzz14fjFtyp5

Thursday, November 4, 2010

BIGAMY CHARGES AGAINST TWO-TIME SPONSOR

This is quite unusual.


Bigamy charge in immigration case 'a first'


Bigamy charge in immigration case 'a first'


By Cheryl Chan, The Province November 3, 2010

A former Surrey woman has been charged with the first immigration-related charge of bigamy in Canada in a marriage for convenience scheme.
Jotika Ashni Reddy, 33, is alleged to have married one man on Sept. 27, 2006, in Surrey and a second Jan. 26, 2008, in Delta, while she was already married to another man.
She then tried to sponsor the two men -- both foreign nationals -- for permanent residency in Canada.
"Each of them applied for permanent resident status on the basis of the marriage," said federal prosecutor Jenna Hyman.
Reddy is charged with two counts of knowingly misrepresenting or withholding material facts under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and two counts of bigamy.
"It is the first time we've laid a charge of bigamy . . . in Canada," said Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman Faith St. John. chchan@theprovince.com Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Bigamy+charge+immigration+case+first/3768230/story.html#ixzz14NzmbzwH

Monday, November 1, 2010

Visalaw International CS CBA OBA-ABO AILA IPBA NYSRA ABA IBA