Canadian Neil Macdonald has insisted his marriage to a woman he met on a Chinese dating site was genuine and that she was his “soul mate.”
A federal judge ruled that she was only interested in a ticket to Canada and upheld immigration official’s decision to deny the man’s attempts to sponsor his wife, Zheng Qun Huang.
The government has introduced measures to crack down on marriage fraud, making it more difficult to apply for spousal sponsorship.
In 2006, Macdonald, a financial advisor in his 60’s, registered with two websites, Chinese Lovelinks and Cherry Blossoms. He began to exchange emails with Zheng and made several trips to China to visit her. They married in 2007 and in 2008 Macdonald applied to sponsor his wife for permanent residence in Canada.
Four months later, a visa officer denied the application, concluding that the marriage was not bona fide and was entered into primarily for immigration purposes.
Macdonald then took his case to the immigration Appeal Division which held a hearing in March 2011. His son from a previous marriage also vouched for the couple’s genuine relationship.
The immigration adjudicator dismissed the appeal saying the relationship had “very little time to evolve and develop” and that there were issues with Zheng’s credibility.
The adjudicator cited the fact that she had made no effort to learn English after five years of marriage, she had failed to tell Macdonald about a condo purchase in China, and also lacked knowledge of his son.
Macdonald’s lawyer said what worked against them was the change to immigration rules that took effect in September 2010.
In the past, determining a “bad faith” relationship required that two conditions be met: an immigration officer had to find that the marriage was not genuine and that the marriage was entered into primarily for the purpose of obtaining immigration status.
After the rule change, a sponsorship application could be denied so long as one of the conditions was met
Couples trying to get permanent residency for their Thai spouse face similar roadblocks with the U.S. According to U.S. immigration lawyers in Thailand many Thai spouses of U.S. citizens are registered to prove the authenticity of their marriage through documented evidence, including photos, correspondence, receipts, and legal affidavits in addition to a marriage certificate.
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