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Phantoms That Live in Two Places at Once

Even so, the revelation that up to 300 so-called permanent residents in Canada used the same address to support their citizenship applications must come as a shocker. Of course, the consultant who acted on behalf of the aspiring Canadians has gone underground and the 300 people who tried to game Canada’s vulnerable system remain anonymous.

Most of us would like to assure ourselves that none of them will ever hold a Canadian passport and that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will disbar the consultant for life. Only then will Canada begin turning back its reputation as the “Wild West” haven for malpractices of all sorts.

In the mid-1990s, these phantom applicants for citizenship came mostly from Hong Kong in the years before it reverted to Chinese sovereignty.

An elaborate industry sprung up around these very wealthy prospective Canadians – just think of the “monster houses” that have sprung up around Vancouver – but few people took notice. They lived in Hong Kong, but were able to successfully demonstrate that they were also in Canada at the same time. Hence the moniker “ghost” or “phantom” residents. The 21^st century, though, made it much harder and there has been more of an emphasis on enforcing the requirement, at least on paper, that permanent residents stay in Canada for three years (1,095 days, precisely) before being eligible for citizenship.

This threshold of three years, incidentally, is the lowest in the western world. Given its already high rate of naturalisation, in 2002, the government of the day also decided to enforce residency for those who hold the Maple Leaf cards (or PR cards). They had to show that they had lived in Canada for at least two of the last five years before they renewed their cards.

This time around, it was not the people of Hong Kong that were trying to game the Canadian immigration system. The gamers were now in the countries of the Arabian Gulf, all of them expatriates looking for an alternate home nation should things turn awry in the region. As far back as 2007, the CIC was aware that the majority of its immigrants from this region had no intention of living in Canada, at least in the short term.

An internal CIC investigation reported the following: “Unless something major happens in the region to make the Gulf less attractive for expat workers, there is not a pool of professionals who are serious about settling in Canada…Local lore is full of stories of Canadians who never lived in Canada.” The report estimated that about 98 per cent of all applicants from the Gulf region were only interested in acquiring landing rights in Canada and had no intention of staying there. The current scam is perhaps a logical outcome of the CIC’s findings. Obviously, permanent residents of Canada who do not live in the country need to find some way to retain their status and still be eligible for citizenship. The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, which was created five years ago to burnish the image of these agents for hire, has distanced itself from the ongoing brouhaha by calling for more regulation of such citizenship consultants, a nascent but growing business.

The Society’s CEO, John Ryan, speaking for the 1,656 members, said the consultant who used Palestine House as a fictitious address had submitted an accreditation application, but gave up mid-way. Following the unearthing of the scam, CIC has warned applicants that they could face jail time, besides forfeiting their right to become a Canadian citizen. But, the government also appears to want to offshore some of its responsibility. Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney was quoted as saying that he is working with his counterparts in major immigration source countries to police the agents who facilitate these scams. “It may be a bit Pollyannish of me to think that it will actually have an effect, but I think we need to push this is as a diplomatic priority in these countries,” Mr. Kenney said.

In the wake of a scam, scapegoating is common. In this instance, the glare is mostly on consultants who use their ingenuity to beat the system, but what about the applicants themselves? In matters of citizenship, Canada could do better than blame consultants out to make a quick buck and foreign governments with nary a chestnut in this fire.

George Abraham is an Ottawa-based commentator. For feedback, write to opinion@khaleejtimes.com