The imposition of a visa requirement on Mexicans is long overdue. Hundreds of bogus refugee claimants and fake visitors are entering Canada lured by unscrupulous individuals and by the promise of well-paying jobs. Canada is fast becoming the laughing stock of all the world's fraudsters. The following article appeared in the Guadalajara Reporter from Mexico:
80 Mexicans sent home after short-lived Canadian odyssey
Written by Alex Gesheva
Saturday, 05 July 2008
Canadian immigration officers at Vancouver International Airport had probably never experienced anything like it: a plane load of 80 Mexican visitors detained in one fell swoop as they tried to enter the country.
Evidently, this was no package tour bringing well-heeled Mexicans to the ski resort at Whistler or for a coach tour through the Rockies. The suspicions of officials were quickly aroused and after some pertinent questioning the group of 35 men and 45 women was refused admission to Canada, held for three days at various correctional facilities, then ignominiously returned to Mexico.
“Apparently, they had no work papers and claimed to be tourists,” Fernando Alvarez, a representative of the Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver, told the Guadalajara Reporter.
“The fact that 80 people were traveling together is what tipped off border officials. This is a very unusual case, the first of its kind at the airport in 30 years.”
The group of Mexicans arrived in Vancouver on a Japan Airlines flight on Friday, June 20. Initial investigations suggest that the group had booked tickets through a travel agency contracted by “someone” in Mexico, who had promised them jobs in British Columbia. They had each paid between 1,500 and 3,000 dollars for the bogus opportunity.
“These people were tricked,” Alvarez said. “There are still no details pointing to one person or organization, and an investigation is ongoing, but we understand that this is someone in California who may have done this before.”
Faith St. John, spokesperson for the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) in Vancouver, explained that due to individual privacy rights she was unable to discuss the specific cases of the deported Mexicans.
“But it is up to the traveler to satisfy the CBSA officer that they are a genuine visitor coming to Canada for a temporary purpose,” St. John said. “Several factors are used in determining admissibility to Canada including misrepresentation, involvement in criminal activity, in human rights violations, in organized crime, security, health or financial reasons.”
From April 1, 2006 through March 31, 2007, the CBSA processed over 95 million travelers – 84,834 were denied entry and 12,626 removed from the country.
Mexican citizens do not require a tourist visa to visit Canada. Border officials, however, will often ask for proof that visitors can support themselves and that they plan to return to their own country without working in Canada. Those planning to work are expected to arrive with the necessary visa in hand.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) pointed to a lack of communication between Canadian and Mexican authorities – the group of would-be workers was detained in Vancouver for three days without access to consular assistance. The delay is in violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which requires that arrested or detained foreign nationals be given notice “without delay” of their right to notify their embassy or consulate of that arrest. Instead, the consulate learned of the group’s existence on Monday morning and had just enough time to interview three of the 80 people involved. According to CBC News, the consulate last week sent an official diplomatic note to CBSA, expressing concern over the handling of the case.
“What we hope for is a cordial relationship with the local authorities,” said Alvarez. “We are just worried that we were not given time to respond in this case.”
A fraud warning on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website has long advised that all application forms and guides are available at no cost, that no deposits to personal bank accounts will be solicited and that there are fixed processing fees for all services. Above all, nobody can guarantee a visa.
“Don’t be the victim of a scam. If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Visa and Work Permit applicants may be tricked into buying false documents,” explains the text. “In several cases, the victims are offered high-paying jobs in Canadian hotels or on offshore ships. In other cases, they are promised a visa (sometimes including travel and accommodation) in exchange for money.”
What many would-be immigrants may not know is that they could be denied entry at the Canadian border even if all their paperwork is in order. New regulations in effect since 2007 require all CBSA agents to ask new arrivals whether they paid any fees to third parties in exchange for working papers. Such transactions are forbidden by Canadian immigration law.
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