Background Checks and Social Media

In this day and time when we sleep, eat, drink and breathe social media, one can no longer expect privacy or hope that some parts of your life will remain hidden. If you (Canadian PR applicant) are one of those who loves posting their life on FB with poor privacy settings or have a very active Instagram account or someone who tweets at the drop of hat, or checks in every time you are even near an airport or actively puts up not so fashionable and complimenting stuff on snap chat, then this post may be for you.

Canadian Immigration Law – IRPA – Section 16.1 states as follows:
Obligation — answer truthfully

16 (1) A person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce a visa and all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.

This means that not only should you be honest in your application, you must also answer all areas of application correctly and consistently.

This means that not only should you be honest in your application, you must also answer all areas of application correctly and consistently.

Imagine stating in your application that you were working as an Assistant Manager at a Financial Institution, but your Linkedin profile for the same period states that you were working as a Sales Clerk in a Bank.
Worst, your so-called manager/colleague who signed your letter, shows up on a professional networking platform as never having worked in the same organization.

This is just one example!

Another one is linked here, where Federal court has ruled in favour of IRCC justifying their decision to ban an applicant for 5 years for misrepresentation when the employment details did not match with the LinkedIn profile

Then court ruling is Here

Another one is of you posting your pictures on FB making merry at Trafalgar Square and then galavanting the beautiful landscapes of Scotland when none of this was ever stated in your travel history in your EE application.

The point I am trying to make is that part of your PR application assessment is to verify the details that you have provided from independent and open sources where possible. Social Media comes under this very segment of assessment.

Rest assured that at some point of time during the assessment of your PR application, someone in IRCC will be googling you and checking various online profiles to find your match and then reviewing whatever data is available online on the World Wide Web.

So if you wish for your application to not face any speed breakers or hurdles or unwanted ADRs or worst PFLs, then make sure you check all your Social Media accounts to see if they are all consistent with what you have stated in your application.