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| Subject: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies |
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from nstechyson@postmedia.com
The Windsor Star
Citizenship and Immigration Canada is poised to crack down on so-called “passport babies” or “birth tourism” — the practice of traveling to Canada to give birth so that child can have Canadian citizenship — as a media report out of China reveals a ring of consultants that coach pregnant women to do exactly that.
“We are aware of crooked consultants who encourage pregnant women to illegally travel to Canada to give birth and gain access to Canada’s considerable benefits,” Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Candice Malcolm told Postmedia News on Sunday.
“We condemn the practice of circumventing our laws to game the system, leaving Canadians taxpayers with the bill. This is unfair and not right.”
The government will introduce changes to the citizenship laws in the next year, Malcolm said.
An investigation by a Hong Kong newspaper found that bogus “consultants” are teaching Chinese women how to hide their pregnancies and how to apply for Canadian visitor or student visas.
For a fee, the pregnant women are instructed to wear dark clothing when crossing the border, not to pack any baby belongings and to lay low until they go into labour, at which point they should rush to the nearest hospital, according to newspaper Apple Daily.
On Friday, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told CBC’s Power and Politics that this kind of fraud has been a problem for some time but that it’s difficult to get a handle on the numbers.
“By definition the hospitals don’t ask. You know, when the birth certificate is issued no one is asking what was the immigration status of their parents. So, there is no statistical register of this,” Kenney said.
Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries in the developed world that have an automatic inheritance of citizenship if you’re born on their soil, Kenney said. He told CBC that he’s asked his department to look at options for change.
“The idea is that we don’t want to encourage birth tourism or what some people call passport babies,” Kenney said.
“And maybe our citizenship laws are rooted in a time when people couldn’t fly over here, fly in and out so quickly, so easily. I think maybe there’s a need to modernize our approach.”
Kasra Nejatian, Kenney’s press secretary, condemned the birth tourism practice in an interview with the Chinese news agency Ming Pao, stressing that the behaviour is unfair to Canadians.
On Feb. 16 the Conservative government introduced sweeping legislation aimed at cracking down on bogus refugees, particularly Europeans whose claims, the Tories say, are generally considered to be unfounded.
"Canada’s asylum system is broken," Kenney said after tabling Bill C-31 in the House of Commons.
The new omnibus bill will deport so-called “bogus” refugee claimants quicker, clamp down on human smugglers and require certain visa holders to turn over biometric data.
Billed as an improvement to the Balanced Refugee Reform Act adopted during the previous minority Parliament but not yet implemented, the new legislation effectively reintroduces contentious elements that were omitted so the Tories could reach a consensus with the opposition.
The Protecting Canada’s Immigration Act, introduced by Kenney, also swallows the government’s human smuggling bill tabled in June and moves forward on a biometrics plan a Commons committee only recently sat down to consider.
[27-02-2012,08:05]
[***.206.18.37]
From Windsort Star |
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NO MORE BRAGGING RIGHT (in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
The government will introduce changes to the citizenship laws in the next year, Malcolm said.
[27-02-2012,11:43]
[***.32.33.244]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
We are aware of crooked consultants who encourage pregnant women to illegally travel to Canada to give birth and gain access to Canada’s considerable benefits,”
WHAT are the benefits for kids and parents who live without status???? babies with Canadian passports can´t claim for any benefit for themselves if their parents are illegal here in Canada. not even health coverage.
[27-02-2012,12:34]
[***.206.18.37]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
Interesting how every little immigration thing is an issue with the conservatives and how the liberals in comparison were OK going with the same system for years on. Not amending the regulations every 2 months and redesigning the forms every 2 weeks.
[27-02-2012,14:26]
[***.95.21.142]
PR Card Renewal |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
Sounds like a lot of BS.............
[27-02-2012,14:40]
[***.202.41.180]
Happy |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
We have an immigration process that was designed and managed by the liberal government for decades that is now a mess. Until the conservatives had a majority, they were unable to make changes. Now they have the majority and they are going to do things their way.
That´s how governments work.
You surely cannot say the old system is working well, can you? All I ever hear is complaints so what exactly are you upset about?
[27-02-2012,15:42]
[**.16.209.125]
Sharon |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
Well lets be like the Communist government of the China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/world/asia/mainland-chinese-flock-to-hong-kong-to-have-babies.html
The kid can´t sponsor their parents now and not until their 19 and meet the LICO
[28-02-2012,06:48]
[**.245.183.211]
Roy |
(in reply to: Canada Cracking down on Passport Babies)
Time to round ´em up and ship ´em out.
[04-03-2012,10:14]
[***.202.41.191]
what! |
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