Many content creators on YouTube have been saying that IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) visa and CBSA (Canadian Border Service Agency) officers at the ports of entry are now asking visitors to show them their phones and search through their social media accounts at the airport and a lot of immigrants are getting deported back to their home countries if they see any discrepancies in them like conversations with friends about them searching for jobs, working in Canada or with the intent to seek asylum and become refugees.
However, even during visa application processing, IRCC can still look through the internet and these social network platforms to verify the information you submit to them and that may be slight basis of visa rejections not only denial of entry into Canada if of course other red flags on your documents were also noticed. Some of the easy bio data of you they can get from these channels are as follows:
1) Your current occupation and employer
2) Your education timeline
3) Your work history
4) Your relationship status
5) Your residing country(s)
6) Your family composition
7) Your business or entrepreneurship history
8) Your language proficiency
9) Maybe even your travel or relocation history
10) And anything you voluntarily post on your Social media profiles
IRCC can find out easily about your relationship status from your social media pages. If you are going through a spousal or common law partnership application and your Facebook, Instagram or other accounts show that you are single, divorced or widowed, you can be in real soup. Maybe, you claim that you are a same sex couple and on your account, you post yourself kissing a member of the opposite sex, it may be an issue unless you explain all that in your application that you are bisexual or heterosexual, you may really be in for it big.
Again, you need to have the photos of your spouse or common-law partner on your accounts; not another close individual that you aren’t telling IRCC about. It is confirmed based on years of work experience of immigration lawyers and consultants that IRCC do more of these online verifications on this matter for international applicants who are running family sponsorships or permanent residence visas. So, don’t make them raise flags on your marital relationships!
Whether you are an English or French speaker, your social media needs to show a part of it. Try to communicate with the language even if you know just basics but again be very careful to not sound like an amateur when you showed IRCC that you are an expert or native-like speaker. However, don’t use your accounts as if you are looking for visa officers to check them out. Feel free and make it social just like its name implies. Create new or curate old contents from others! Just adding the bilingual status to your profile may assist you a great deal.
In addition, if you claim that you are a mechanical engineer, but on your LinkedIn, it shows that you are a self-employed CEO, that is problem and may lead to misrepresentation which may get you banned for 2-3 or even 5 years based on the province or territory or even Federal Government of Canada. Avoid stating what you don’t have on your social media on your visa application if you don’t want to raise issues and cause it to be flagged for discrepancies.
If you claim that you worked for a big organization and that company cannot be found online, IRCC may be doubting that work experience and asking questions like how real is your job history? And, this may really cause you issues down the line. So, think deeply about what you present n your application yourself well. Make sure they can contact someone from your past employments online.
Having pictures of your family members with you on your social media accounts who are already in Canada but you stated that you have no family member in Canada on your application may also raise some suspicions which you don’t want; trust me. Do your own due diligence before IRCC does it for you!
If you claim you just have some brothers or sisters in your home country and you are seen hugging your own children with some easy to understand captions that they are your kids; that could be a huge red flag and set you up for visa ban.
Just issues on your social media accounts can cause outright visa bans and refusals but it could lead to further investigations, delays, sending you interview requests, procedural fairness letters among other strict decisions. Hence, protect your privacy and avoid potential red flags; as well as know what to expect during the application process. So, that you can be ready and prepared on time!
This is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. And, it may be used by IRCC to check anything and everything you posted online far back since 1996 or 2001 till date. A total of 735 billion web pages which includes texts, images, videos, even applications and softwares downloaded have been archived in this internet time machine for every other website out there.
This is IRCC’s single most used and favorite tool for quick online verification and research on visa applicants. They use Google for basic searches and even Artificial Intelligence more and more these days to find out locations where you worked, countries you are residing travelled to, organizations you have volunteered with, schools you really attended, and associations you belong to, among other details.
The more complicated your application and time consuming it is, the more IRCC will dig deep to discredit your spousal sponsorship, work permit, asylum seeking applications or other type of visa appeal processes. IRCC knows that some social media information may not be reliable but could spark some verification issues.
Your most used social networks are in for scrutiny by them including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Quora, etc. Just ask yourselves these questions to know well what you have online and how you can start creating a better impression of you in the minds of their officers;
1) If I type my names on Google, what do I see from page 1 till end if possible?
2) What I say I do as work, volunteer or business, do I have it online?
3) Is it even compulsory to have everything online? No, but don’t contradict your visa applications either with your contents.
4) Can I start adding what I want IRCC to know about me on social media? Absolutely yes, start now, start early!
5) Can I update now even though I have not in a while? Yes, it’s never too late.
Finally, if you have a very good application which has verifiable documentations, IRCC may not bother looking into your social media accounts but again if you come from countries with more high-tech security checks and visa refusals or bans like those in West Africa, South-East and Central Asia, they may have reason to confirm your information online and could either favor or mar your chances. Hence, it is never too bad to be very careful and plan very well before hand. Want to work with our immigration partners on permanent residence, visit here.
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