假新闻：加拿大签证官地区姓氏歧视大陆申请者

一则广为流传的微信新闻称，加拿大移民局在批准来自中国大陆申请者的签证时施行地区歧视政策，刻意刁难来自辽宁，广东，河北，福建，河南的申请者们。消息还引用来自移民律师Steven Meurrens的一则推文称移民局的训练手册将上述中国省份定位签证驳回高风险区。

A news article clogged WeChat feed says that in approving for visa applications from China, IRCC practices geographical discrimination, targeting applicants from Liaoning, Guangdong, Hebei, Fujian, Henan. The article also embedded a tweet from immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens, which says that IRCC training manual identified several provinces in China as high-risk areas for visa refusal.



这则引用移民局内部信息指南的推文让很多申请者吓破了胆。消息一出，网上反馈激烈：某些网民幸灾乐祸：“这帮福建申请者只好干认倒霉！“而另一些网民则怒气冲冲，将矛头直指渥京和加拿大移民局：“加拿大不应准许地理或种族歧视！我们应该状告特鲁多政府违反宪章！”

Such a tweet from an immigration lawyer referring to insider information such as IRCC guidelines seemed intimidated many applicants.  Online reactions to the news were spontaneous. Some showed the guilty pleasure: “Those from Fujian province has no choice but to suck it up! “ Others revealed anger, making comments that directly lashing out at Trudeau and IRCC. “Canada should not tolerate geographical or race discrimination! We can file a lawsuit against Trudeau government for violating Constitutions!”



但这则消息和Meurren的推文却遭到其同行的置疑。加拿大著名移民律师库兰徳表示，移民局的培训手册只是用来辨别欺诈案件，而不是用来驳回移民申请。的确，来自世界有些地区，包括某些东欧和非洲国家的移民申请造假率高，因此这些地区的申请个案需要仔细甄别，考核递交信息的真实性。但这却不同于颁发指南专门“驳回”这些地区的申请个案。库兰徳在给《大中报》的电邮中称：“世界有些地区的确为造假高发区，因此这些以递假材料著称的地区出现较高的拒签率也就不足为奇了！”

But the news story and Meurrens’ tweets raise skepticism from his peers. According to Richard Kurland, a well-known immigration lawyer, the IRCC training material is used to identify “document fraud”, rather than a guideline for refusal. Some parts of the world– including countries in Eastern Europe and Africa are known sources of fraudulent documents, and cases from the region require closer verification. However, it is very different than a guideline to ‘refuse’, Kurland explained through an email to Chinese News. ”Some parts of the world are known to have higher fraud rates, and there is no surprise to see higher refusal rates from those areas where document fraud is well-known. ”



对许多大陆申请者来说，申请加拿大签证手续本身就是一场噩梦，而这些网上到处传播的消息则更是耸人听闻。今天的网络世界已成了虚假信息的摇篮，谣言和不实信息的温床。如果你在网上搜寻“加拿大签证申请”，谷歌引擎的回答会让你惊悚不已。”大陆申请者拒签率达到新高！“孟晚舟遭逮捕后，更多的永久居民申请遭驳回！”这则消息则更让人大跌眼镜：“姓王，黄，李，陈等通用姓氏者面临更高的拒签率!”

Applying a Canadian visa could be a nightmare for many Chinese nationals, rumours widely circulating on the Chinese language websites or social media WeChat would only make it worse. The digital world has become a hotbed for misinformation and a burgeoning collection of misconceptions, rumours and fake news. If you google “Canadian visa application”, what will pop up from the search engine seems quite frightening: “Visa refusal rate for Chinese applicants reached new high! “More PR applicants were rejected after Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver”. More shockingly, “Applicants with generic last names -- Wang, Huang, LI, Chen-- face higher rate of refusal!”



库兰徳称：“移民局的决定反映出在确认申请人身份过程中的却面临难度和挑战。” 但常用姓氏或在英语中拼写不同的姓氏的确需要仔细甄别，但并非说这些姓氏申请者就会遭到拒签。库兰德之语的确与移民局说法相当。为了驳回移民局仅仅根据申请者姓氏而任意驳回签证申请的误导信息，加国移民权利机构表示移民局对来自世界各地的申请者都会一视同仁。

“IRCC decision reflects the difficulty of ensuring identity of the person,” says Kurland. But common names or names that can be spelled differently in English need review, but not rejection, according to Kurland. His comments were echoed by IRCC. To debunk rumours that IRCC arbitrarily reject Chinese applications based on their last names, the immigration authorities indicate that all applications from around the world are assessed equally against the same criteria.



移民局的媒体通讯官员Fenelon Beatrice在给《大中报》的电邮中表示：“签证决定是由经过高度训练的政府官员根据加国法律做出的。如果签证官做出拒签决定，那是因为申请者有违加国移民法或不能申请类别的要求。”

“The visa decisions are made by highly-trained public servants according to Canadian law. When a visa officer refuses an application, it is because the applicant does not meet the requirements of the program they have applied to or of Canada’s immigration law”, says Fenelon Beatrice, Communications Advisor for IRCC, through an email to Chinese News.



加拿大移民局提供的统计数据证明其从未歧视大陆申请者。中国在几十年来一直是加拿大的移民来源国，且近年来对中国申请者的签证批准率一直在上升。据移民局称，中国大陆的临时签证批准率自2015年来一直出于高峰状态，平均批准率高达88.4%。2018年，移民局收到的大陆签证申请数额高于2017年，并签发了592,007份签证，比2017年上升了8.3%。同时，家庭团聚类的拒签率也比上一年降低了20%。

IRCC has provided stats to show that Canada does not discriminate against Chinese applicants. China has remained a major immigration source country for Canada for decades and visa approval rate for applicants from China has been on the rise in recent years. According to IRCC, the approval rate for Chinese nationals for temporary resident visa has been high, averaging 88.4% since 2015. In 2018, IRCC saw more applications from China than 2017 and issued 592,007 visa to Chinese nationals, an increase of 8.3% over the previous year. Meanwhile, refusal rate for family class applications was 20% lower than the year prior.

以“监督渥太华诚信”为职业宗旨的库兰徳确认了移民局提供的统计数字。

Kurland whose motto is keeping Ottawa honest has confirmed the information from IRCC.