CIC investigating thousands for fraud, says Kenney

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is investigating a record 11,000 people in Canada suspected of having acquired their Canadian citizenship and immigration status via fraud. Around 7,500 cases of permanent residents have been flagged for close monitoring.  

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said today that the government has already started revoking citizenship to as many as 3,100 people who were found to have obtained it through fraudulent methods. Many of them were from Middle Eastern countries, Lebanon in particular, according to The National Post.

These fraud cases mainly involve immigrants who have not lived in Canada during the time required to maintain their status. 

CIC has been intensifying its investigations of citizenship fraud since 2010, such as amendments in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into force last June. 

A large part of the enforcement role of Citizenship and Immigration Canada is now carried out by the Canadian Border Services Agency. In increasing efforts to crack down on fraudulent immigrants, however, CSBA racked up a record 1,105 complaints -- about six per day -- from Jan. 7 until the end of June last year.