The Canadian Embassy in Dakar organized an information session for media professionals on immigration and the fight against fraud.

“As every year, Canada has dedicated the month of March to raising awareness about immigration fraud. In a context marked by the upcoming opening of a direct Montreal-Dakar air link and this summer’s FIFA World Cup, which are generating increasing interest in Canada, the authorities deemed it essential that Senegalese journalists have complete and verifiable information on the risks associated with fraudulent operators,” said Emmanuel Lussier, Deputy Program Manager for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), on Wednesday, April 8, in the Assiétou Guèye room at the Canadian Embassy in Dakar.

 

"There are no authorized representatives in Senegal."

 

During his presentation, he listed the forms of fraud that too often target those seeking to travel, study, or immigrate to Canada. These include, he said, "unaccredited immigration agents posing as experts, promises of guaranteed visas in exchange for payment—a practice prohibited under Canadian law—fictitious job offers used to extort money from applicants, counterfeit documents (offer letters, bank statements, diplomas), fake websites mimicking official Canadian government portals, and scams on social media and messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram)." He also clarified that "there are no authorized immigration agents in Senegal."

Regarding fraud in numbers, Emmanuel Lussier stated that more than 9,000 cases of immigration fraud are suspected and investigated each month in 2024 in Canada; 52,000 applications for temporary residence were refused for false declaration in the first six months of 2024 alone.

The deputy program manager at IRCC indicated a more than 100% increase in cases of misrepresentation between 2022 (26,000 cases) and the first six months of 2024 (52,000 cases), while the volume of applications increased by only 25%. A maximum fine of 1.5 million Canadian dollars (660 million CFA francs) is now in place for dishonest immigration representatives, and a five-year ban from entering Canada in cases of proven fraud or misrepresentation.