Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Carol McKinney and I am the program manager of the visa office in Chandigarh. I would like to provide a short overview of Chandigarh's operations in delivering Canada's visa program in the region that it serves.
The Chandigarh visa office is a satellite office of New Delhi, processing temporary resident applications from states in northern Indian, primarily Punjab and Haryana. There are six Canada-based officers supported by nineteen locally engaged staff members.
In 2012 we issued a record number of visas, 18,088, almost three times more than were issued in 2005, with an acceptance rate of 53%. Not only has the number of applications received increased, but so too has our approval rate, which was 38% in 2004, the year our office opened.
Our processing times have also improved, with 80% of the temporary resident visa applications processed within our client service standard of 14 calendar days.
In spite of economic growth in India, there is a strong incentive for residents of the Punjab to seek better economic opportunities abroad. The large Punjabi community in Canada exerts a strong pull factor, particularly among the young unemployed or underemployed. As many of these individuals do not meet Canada's visa requirements, officials from Canada and from key partner countries are very concerned about the growing evidence of fraud and misrepresentation.
Chandigarh is aware of the possibility of fraud in all of its business lines. In 2012, 329 applications were refused under section A40 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for misrepresentation discovered through verifications. However, overall, we estimate that between 15% and 20% of the applications we refuse contain misrepresentation of some kind. Examples of fraudulent documents include those received from students, such as fraudulent letters of acceptance, language test certificates, academic records, reference letters, and identify documents.
Temporary foreign work applicants often provide fraudulent ESDC labour market opinions and fraudulent letters for their employment in India. Fraud encountered in visitor visa applications usually involves falsified Indian bank statements or falsified documentation from Canada, such as invitations from non-existent Canadians or fraudulent funeral home letters for funerals that are not taking place.
While some of the fraud is perpetrated by applicants on their own initiative, unscrupulous consultants exploit the desire to travel to Canada and actively mislead clients. The agents may submit a number of applications with similar misrepresentation without declaring their status, as required by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The commonalities and the fraudulent documentation that are found in various unrelated applications are clear evidence that one source is responsible for the submission of all of the applications. Unfortunately, these applications do not include agent information, thereby making it difficult to identify and trace those responsible. Many applicants trust the advice given to them by agents, and, regrettably, many are misled. The agents usually require that a significant portion of their fee be paid upfront, which means they benefit even if a high percentage of their clients' applications are refused.
In order to improve the processing of applications from genuine visitors, the Chandigarh office has been working with Canadian religious institutions. Our office now has a simple procedure that allows us to confirm invitations from genuine Sikh religious workers. This is one example of Chandigarh's efforts to work cooperatively with trusted Canadian institutions in order to provide quality client service.
To combat fraud in our visa program, a new anti-fraud officer position was created in Chandigarh in September 2012. This position has increased our capacity for field verifications when fraud is suspected, including cases referred to us from New Delhi for local investigation. Chandigarh's invaluable anti-fraud support allows Delhi's anti-fraud officer to investigate in other parts of India.
In addition to assisting New Delhi, Chandigarh's new anti-fraud officer has also provided support to local law enforcement officials, who, particularly in the Punjab, have been targeting unregistered and unlicensed consultants. Canadian missions in India also participate in joint initiatives with local police and our close international partners—Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.A.—in our battle to put unscrupulous agents out of business.
For example, on the basis of information provided by Canada and its partners, the Punjab police, on May 6, 2013, raided the offices of six Jalandhar-based consultants. This resulted not only in the arrest of the owners of five consulting companies but also included the seizure of what is the equivalent of $36,000 Canadian, 42 passports, and 152 potential visa applications containing suspected false documentation.
Chandigarh is hopeful that these efforts will lead to a reduction in the number of fraudulent applications we receive. This in turn would encourage and support the mission's continued increase in acceptance rates and allow us to continue to facilitate the travel of the many genuine applicants we already approve.
This concludes my remarks. I will now hand the floor to my colleague Catherine Bailey in Manila.