July 31, 2012. 5:17 pm Posted by: Janet Steffenhagen Vancouver Sun (blog) The federal government plans a crack-down on the fraudulent use of student visas to gain entry to Canada. A proposal published in the Canada Gazette last month targets those who obtain student visas but never go to school or attend shady institutions that ultimately damage Canada’s reputation, says a Postmedia News report from Ottawa. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney suggested criminal gangs might also be involved, helping young people obtain visas so they can put them to work in the sex trade, the story says. “This is a loophole being allegedly used by some criminal operations to bring potentially vulnerable young women to Canada to face exploitation,” Kenney is quoted as saying. “We don’t have much in the way of hard data on this. It’s a concern that’s been raised and I think it’s a legitimate one and we think this underscores the need for us to better police the program.” The plan includes ending student visas for courses that last less than six months. Read the whole article... See also: Proposal intended to weed out fraud and human smuggling By Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News August 1, 2012 |
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