Canadians hunt bogus immigrants
A SPECIAL Canadian police team is heading to the territory in the hopes of unravelling a multi-million dollar immigration scam that has allowed hundreds of bogus Hongkong entrepreneur immigrants into Canada, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
After a two-year investigation, police believe information on ''about 200 Hongkong immigrants'' in Canada is only ''the tip of the iceberg''.
Hongkong residents are paying bribes of up to $600,000 or more to ''a highly organised group'' of unscrupulous immigration consultants in Hongkong and possibly immigration officials in Canada who advise them on ways to stay in Canada illegally, said Corporal Wayne Allen from the RCMP's immigration and passport section.
Under the Canada Immigration Act, entrepreneur-class immigrants are generally required to have a net worth of between $1.5 million and $3 million, depending on their destination.
They must also ''establish, purchase or make a substantial investment in a business or commercial venture'' while providing at least one full-time job for a Canadian.
Statistics show that more than 3,000 entrepreneurs and their families migrated to Canada in the first six months of 1992.
Police revealed that many of those and other businessmen had been advised by consultants to become owners or partners in firms in name only, distributing the ownership of companies among relatives and friends in order to satisfy Canadian immigration officials.
A recent immigrant to Vancouver, now on a business trip in the territory, said there was perceived to be widespread abuse of the system by those who meet the asset requirements.
During his own immigration, the businessman had been advised by a consultant to buy a shell company in Vancouver, which would ''guarantee'' his entry into Canada.
''I was supposed to buy this company and employ a secretary. It was supposed to be just an office with a telephone and the secretary,'' he said.
''It sounded too easy and too good to be true. I didn't do it, but there are others who have. They want a foreign passport and to live overseas, but the economy is so bad in some places that you almost have to come back here to make a living.'' However, Corporal Allen stressed that Canadian authorities were now alert to the practice.
''Generally, it is an operation whereby businessmen come to the Vancouver area and invest, or seemingly invest in a company and represent themselves as owners.
''In fact, it is just a paper ownership of a company. They never actually physically own or run the company, and in the meantime they continue with their business in Hongkong.
''It is done to obtain an immigration status in Canada as an entrepreneur,'' Corporal Allen said.
