Fake-marriage schemes linked to would-be international students
VANCOUVER — The newspaper ads in India are the visible tip of a booming underground industry in fake marriages involving would-be international students.
The prize for the “spouse” whose family buys an instant marriage with a foreign student is back-door access to a full-time job in Canada and a fast-track to citizenship.
The matrimonial ads normally promise that the foreign students’ sham marriage, plus all travel and study expenses, will be paid for by the Indian families who are determined to have their son or daughter emigrate.
The type of Indian student the ads seek is usually a teenage girl, who must have passed an Englishlanguage test and therefore be in line to be accepted as an international student.
Media outlets in India, such as the Hindustan Times, report there is a “booming matrimony market for ‘brides’ who can earn the ‘groom’” coveted status as a migrant to a Western country.
Canada is among the most sought-after destinations for Indian foreign students, say migration specialists, because it is the most generous toward foreign students and their spouses.
Here is a typical recent ad from one Punjabi-language newspaper in India, Ajit:
“Jatt Sikh, boy, 24 years old, 5 feet 10 inches, needs girl with IELTS band 7. Marriage real or fake. Boy’s side will pay all expenses.”
The ad is listed by a high-caste “Jatt” Sikh male, or more likely his parents. It seeks a contractual marriage with a young woman who has scored well on an international exam called “IELTS,” the International English Language Testing System. Almost three million IELTS exams are conducted each year.
Here is another ad, from the newspaper Jagbani:
“Barbar Sikh, 24, 5 feet 8 inches. Finished Grade 12. Looking for BSc or IELTS pass girl. Boy’s side will pay all expenses to go to Canada.”
In this ad, the family of a lowercaste “Barbar Sikh” is seeking to have their son marry an Indian female with a bachelor of science degree, or a passing mark on the IELTS test, so their son can be allowed into Canada as her spouse.
The parents of the male “spouse” typically offer to cover all expenses for the international student, who often ends up attending one of the scores of private colleges in Canada with low to non-existent standards.
B.C. is home to 130,000 international students, the vast majority of whom are in Metro Vancouver, which has the highest concentration of foreign students in Canada.