Khangura to Canadian govt: Grant visa quota to legislators to avoid fraudulent immigration - 27/09/2010

CHANDIGARH, September 27: Qila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura today suggested to the Canadian government to grant visa quotas to legislators in Punjab to avoid fraudulent immigration. He observed, Canadian Government should engage every legislator in Punjab as part of a campaign to promote the various legal migration options to Canada.

In a letter addressed to Mr Jason Kenney, the Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister, Government of Canada, Khangura suggested that the Canadian government should incentivise each legislator with the ability to nominate one person every six months for migration to Canada.

Elaborating, he added, such rights could be withdrawn from the uncooperative legislators and these could be reallocated to those the Canadian government assesses to be supporting the initiative. He maintained that the Canadian government can also monitor the genuineness of the sponsorships.

He pointed out, as there are 130 elected MPs and MLAs in Punjab, such a facility would result in a maximum of 260 persons migrating, a relatively small figure in the context of overall inward migration to Canada. The upside is that within 2 or 3 years there could be a transformation in the public mindset with a decisive rejection of illegal methods, he added.

Khangura observed, “the severity of the problem warrants creative initiatives. This proposal would improve the quality of information reaching potential migrants and the assistance of the legislators would improve the quality of your verification process”.

“As a former 40 year resident of the UK, a former British citizen and a frequent visitor to Canada I understand the pressures on your Government in differentiating between genuine and fraudulent visa applications”, he said, while adding, “you have recently visited Punjab and have sought the cooperation of the Punjab government in tackling bogus immigration consultants. Whilst yours is a reasonable request you may need to temper your expectations of decisive action by the Punjab Government”.

Speaking from his own experience, he said, “I have worked with the British authorities in my constituency and at seminars in the UK to stress the importance of the legal migration route and to encourage people to resist both fraudulent visa documentation and illegal migration traffickers”.

He said, he has consistently argued for the legal route and always encouraged his constituents to reject the services of fraudsters and traffickers. “It is, however, a difficult argument to sell and I have no doubt lost support for not assisting those of my constituents who simply are not prepared to consider legal options”, he disclosed.

Khangura said, “prevailing poverty and desperate existences explain why there are perhaps very few legislators in Punjab who take this approach with their constituents. The sad reality is that most, if not all, of these fraudulent consultants and traffickers enjoy political patronage”.

Jassi Khangura MLA,

Chandigarh.

September 27, 2010