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Canadian immigration policy bans “Singh” and “Kaur”

This first appeared at Angry Asian Man.

If your name is Singh or Kaur, you’ll have to jump through one more extra hoop before being allowed to immigrate into Canada. A long-standing immigration policy apparently forces people with the surname Singh or Kaur—common Sikh names—to change their last names: Common Sikh names banned under Canada’s immigration policy. If you apply to become a permanent resident, you’ll recive a letter from the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi stating “the names Kaur and Singh do not qualify for the purpose of immigration to Canada.” That’s ridiculous.

According to Citizen and Immigration Canada, the policy is supposed to help the agency manage visa processing, due to the sheer volume of applicants and the complications that arise due to common names. However, there is no such policy against other common last names. Lee, Wang, Smith—all permissible. It seems that the Sikh community has been singled out. What’s up with that? Here’s a press release from the World Sikh Organization decrying this policy: World Sikh Organization Condemns Unfair Name Change Policy

UPDATE: Turns out, twenty-four hours after the World Sikh Organization raised the Sikh name issue, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced it was dropping the policy, calling the whole thing a misunderstanding based on a “poorly worded” letter: ‘Singh’ ban denounced.

Posted at 8:20 AM, Aug 06, 2007 in Permalink | View Comments