Newspaper ads in Punjab are the visible tips of a booming underground industry in fake marriages
iF you read Punjabi Epaper than you already seen bunch of classifieds for Wanted Bride or Groom . 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 clasified ads normally promise that the foreign
students’ sham marriage, plus all travel and study expenses, will be paid for
by the Punjabi families who are determined to have their son or daughter
emigrate.
The type of Punjabi student the ads seek is usually a
teenage girl, who must have passed an English-language test (ILETS) and
therefore be in line to be accepted as an international student.
Media outlets in India, such as the Daily Azad Soch, report
there is a “booming matrimony market for ‘brides’ who can earn the ‘groom’”
coveted status as a migrant to a Western country.
Here is a typical recent ad from one Punjabi-language
newspaper in Punjab, :
“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 (“band 7”) 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 another newspaper :
“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 lower-caste “Barbar Sikh” is
seeking to have their son marry an Punjabi female with a bachelors of science
degree, or a passing mark on the IELTS test, so their son can be allowed into
Canada as her spouse.
As these kinds of ads illustrate, the parents of the male
“spouse” typically offer to cover all expenses for the international student,
who often end 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.
In exchange for financing the foreign student, the phony
spouse gets to live in Canada and legally work up to 40 hours a week, plus
receive medical coverage and other benefits. That puts them in a strong
position to become permanent residents of Canada.
The foreign-student marriage rackets are gaining attention
in newspapers in Punjab.
Punjabi media are reporting angry fallout when students
financed by other families either fail to get into a Western college or
university, or try to break up with their spouses of convenience.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University political scientist Shinder
Purewal, a former Canadian citizenship court judge, says Punjabi- and
Hindi-language newspapers in India run dozens of such ads each week.
“Families are looking for matches to get their sons or daughters
abroad. And the most successful route to Canada is through
international-student channels. It’s an easy way to get immigration,” said
Purewal.
