Government of Canada to stop immigration fraud through international collaboration

A new international initiative puts Canada at the front position of worldwide efforts to spot and fight against immigration scam. Under this milestone, Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Australia will be capable of sharing the fingerprint information of asylum seekers and foreign nationals facing exile, including dangerous criminals. This will develop Canada’s capability to make out foreign nationals who are seeking to enter Canada and who are trying to bury their history from authorities.

Under the corporation, Canada will be capable of securely and in secret verify fingerprints with those stored in Australian and U.K. databases. The proposal was developed under the Five Country Conference (FCC) among Canada, Australia, the U.K., the United States and New Zealand. The United States will be joining the plan shortly, and New Zealand is taking into account legislation to join in the near future.

Canada has had a very old joint relationship with the FCC countries and Canada is building on this joint venture. Through this plan, Canada is tackling identity deception and abuse of its immigration and refugee programs, while simultaneously guarantee that Canada continues to welcome real refugees.

Along with our international partners, we are making a commitment to ensure the safety and security of our respective countries,” said Minister Van Loan. “This is one way that we are balancing Canada’s priority of economic prosperity while using innovative ways to improve border security.

Information sharing amongst FCC countries will let Canada to:

1. Improved identification of fake requesters, ensuring that Canada is more victorious in verifying the identities of genuine refugee requesters.
2. Get better ability to detect people who not tell the truth about themselves.
3. Guard public safety by removing those who are found to be prohibited to enter in Canada.
4. Shelter Canadians from brutal foreign criminals.

The advantages of information sharing have previously been confirmed by partner countries in earlier trials. In one case, a protection claimant in the U.K. was found to have formerly been fingerprinted on entrance in the United States while traveling on an Australian passport. Australia afterward confirmed that the person was an Australian citizen wanted on unlawful charges. This resulted in his exile to Australia, where he is now in prison.

Every country concerned in this plan has employed a number of safeguards to care for privacy and has completed a broad privacy impact assessment. CIC is undertaking this program in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and with the support of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

CIC, the CBSA and the RCMP are furthermore leading a five-year project to initiate biometrics into Canada’s temporary resident program. The project, publicized in the 2008 budget, will cover visitors who need visas or work or study permits and are scheduled to be rolled out between the year 2011 and 2013. The Government of Canada is going toward ultimately using biometrics for all foreigners inflowing the country.

Source: www.cic.gc.ca