When Tobias Denskus, a professor of international development in Sweden, applied to come to Canada in February 2019 to renew his permanent residency it wasn’t just the “bad experience” that concerned him.
He said he was alarmed at handing over his most sensitive information to VFS Global, a massive visa outsourcing corporation. Until 2019, the company operated out of Mauritius, a known tax haven, and is also backed by a Chinese state-controlled investment fund.
“My impression after going through the process with VFS was that it felt much worse than dealing directly with Canadian government entities, dealing directly with Immigration Canada,” Denskus told Global News from Malmo, Sweden.
He said his application was delayed for weeks because the company failed to inform him that only UPS would deliver to their offices in Stockholm.
“I felt quite sorry for those who experienced this for the first time, for example, for a study abroad or work visa, that their first interaction with Canada as a country is actually through a rather peculiar corporate entity,” Denskus said.
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From 2009 to 2019, Canada has awarded $183,204,308 to VFS Global to handle visa application submissions and biometric data collection at Canadian visa application centres in more than 80 countries, according to a Global News analysis of federal contracts.
And as the country moved to privatize parts of its visa application process, immigration, privacy and security experts say the lack of transparency and oversight of the visa outsourcing giant should be a major concern for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
“This is the invisible big brother Goliath collecting literally hundreds of millions of cases of private information centralized under one private company,” said Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer based in Vancouver.
“My concern is where oh where is the oversight, monitoring and control of this private company?”
Although VFS Global says it’s headquartered in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, Canada’s contracts are signed with VF Worldwide Holdings, which up until 2019 was headquartered in Mauritius – an island off the coast of Madagascar known for enabling questionable tax avoidance measures.
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Another $10 million in contracts was awarded to TT Visa Services, also owned by VFS Global, to handle visa applications in 24 countries, including the United States and several in South America.
Founded in 2001 by Zubin Karkaria, who is still the CEO, VFS Global is a giant in the world of visa processing, having completed more than 224 million applications, containing sensitive personal and financial information, and operates in 144 countries, according to the company’s website.
The company is now primarily owned by EQT VII (No. 1) Limited Partnership, which is backed by Chengdong Investments, a subsidiary of the state-run China Investment Corp., according to documents filed with Britain’s corporate registry. The link to the Chinese-state owned firm was first reported by the Globe and Mail.
VFS chief communications officer Peter Brun said the company takes “customer service extremely seriously” and invests “significantly in all aspects of the application process.”
“It is in the nature of every high-volume customer-facing services business that customer complaints do occur,” Brun said. “We respond to 24 customer queries a minute on an average with a complaint resolution score of 99%.”
VFS Global said it complies with the “tax laws and practices in the countries in which we operate.”
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“We pay all taxes according to the Canadian provincial and federal tax laws,” Brun said.
“Earlier media reports allege that VFS Global has a Chinese, German or American ownership. This information is completely wrong and based on incorrect information without proper fact-checking. VFS Global is owned and controlled by its Swedish-Swiss investors.”
Both EQT VII and VFS Global denied that Chengdong Investments or any investor has access to VFS data.
“Investors have no access to the EQT portfolio companies’ client and customer databases, nor do they influence the portfolio companies’ decision making or strategies,” said EQT spokesperson Daniel Ketema.
Connection to China investment firm
Anyone wanting to work, live or study in Canada from countries like China, Russia, the Philippines, India or the United Kingdom may have used VFS Global. Even Canadians applying to countries like the United Kingdom may have handed over personal data to the company.
VFS provides mostly administrative support, handling tasks such as fingerprinting and passport collection. Applicants will often apply for their visa through VFS rather than with the Canadian government directly.
In November 2012, the company won a $51-million contract under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper. And since 2017, the company has been awarded an additional $132-million worth of contracts, according to information listed on the federal procurement website.
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Former CSIS director Ward Elcock told Global News that any connections between VFS Global, a company that receives significant funding from China, should be closely reviewed by Ottawa.
“Is there a risk? Yes,” Elcock said, speaking about the potential for Chinese state actors to access data related to Canadian visa applications. “But just because there is a Chinese company that’s an investor doesn’t by definition mean that there is a risk to Canada.
“Contracts like this are ones that ought to be treated sensitively and the government ought to be sensitive to the potential risks,” he said.
“The government needs to have done the work to ensure that the contract is not giving access or it does not effectively give access to very sensitive data to another regime.”
Meanwhile, Kurland said the federal government’s push to privatize visa application processes has saved the government “tens of millions of dollars” to deliver its immigration and visa system. In-person immigration officers still make final decisions on who is granted a visa.
“My goodness, it’s a great arrangement,” he said.
1:53 Effort to recover resident visa fees could become largest class action suit in Canadian history
Effort to recover resident visa fees could become largest class action suit in Canadian history – Nov 8, 2018
But Kurland said he’s alarmed by the massive amounts of data the company stores and the fact it was previously based in what Oxfam and the European Union have called among the world’s worst tax havens.
“If there was a complaint, monitoring oversight or problem, you’re out of luck. While contractually this private company is required to abide by Canadian laws, including privacy laws, it’s unenforceable,” he said. “How is an individual around the world or in Canada going to redress problems with a private company located in Switzerland or some other jurisdiction?”
VFS strongly rejected those allegations, saying it deletes all personal data “30 days after a passport and documents have been returned to the applicants.”
“VFS Global does not store any personal data related to a visa application,” VFS spokesperson Brun said in an email, adding that the company was “re-domiciled” from Mauritius to Dubai in 2019.
0:45 Canada contract with visa application firm raises questions, privacy expert
Canada contract with visa application firm raises questions, privacy expert
In 2015, the company experienced a serious privacy breach that allowed personal information of Italian visa applicants, including their date of birth, passport details and addresses, to be exposed online.
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IRCC says it has no record that VFS ever notified the Canadian government of this breach.
Meanwhile, VFS said that a “small number of application data” was “potentially accessible for a short time.”
“The gap was closed immediately. This was not related to any Canadian visa application and respective systems for the Canadian client government,” the company said.
VFS Global said in a statement that it prioritizes efforts to improve “cyber security processes” to keep up with changing threat scenarios.
“As a service provider to IRCC, any data protection incidents will be reported directly to IRCC. If required, IRCC would inform the privacy commissioner,” it said.
Former Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian was shocked about the potential concerns around how this company handles and retains data and what kind of oversight exists. VFS Global’s website does indicate complaints can be directed to the Canadian privacy commissioner.
“But how the heck would they engage in any oversight over that? This company is huge and it’s all over the place,” Cavoukian said. “And I couldn’t get a sense of where was the information retained? And who else could perhaps have access to it.”
IRCC told Global News that while it was unaware of these privacy and oversight concerns, there is an extensive program in place to make sure visa application centres comply with Canada’s privacy laws.
“Protecting the privacy of Canadians is paramount in all that we do, and the Government of Canada takes its privacy obligations very seriously,” an IRCC spokesperson said in an email. “No application or biometric collection data is stored at the [visa application centres]. All databases containing applicant personal information must be located in Canada.
However, Kurland worries that, while safeguards exist, they are not being used effectively.
“It’s an honour system arrangement,” says Kurland.
“How can the privacy commissioner find out whether data was deleted in Bangladesh, or pick your country? How can they possibly know?”
And if a visa applicant’s confidential personal information is breached through the use of VFS, the Canadian government is not liable for any damages, according to a 2008 VFS contract obtained by Global News.
VFS Global said it “complies with the data protection and privacy regulations of all countries we serve.”
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“We have a dedicated Privacy and Group Data Protection Officer who is responsible for immediate communications with respective authorities,” Brun said.
Meanwhile, John Atkins, an immigration lawyer based in the U.K., said his clients regularly run into problems with VFS Global. He says some have even been denied visas due to mishandled documents, improperly uploaded information or other administrative errors.
He said dealing with the company is a “nightmare.”
“I’ve even got it in my client engagement letter that you will have problems with the (VFS) application,” Atkins told Global News from his home in Exeter, U.K. “I’ve been raising the matter of due diligence with the Home Office for two years. So it was the due diligence. Who’s monitoring all this?”
IRCC told Global News it does not track the total number of complaints generated by users of VFS Global or at visa application centres.
“IRCC takes Client complaints at the Visa Application Centres very seriously, investigates each case according to the severity and takes remedial action as needed,” IRCC spokesperson Beatrice Fenelon said in an email.
“Because IRCC does not differentiate general complaints from VAC-related incidents, IRCC is unable to provide a specific number of complaints regarding VACs.”
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Kurland is representing dozens of plaintiffs in a $194-million class action against the Canadian government that alleged that foreign visitors were charged more than it cost to process their visa applications.
“You’re placing at risk the data of people in your country in the long term. Remember, this is not a one-snapshot deal. This privatized data contains the information to effectively give governments around the world of whom is related to whom in your family. And that’s on a global scale.”
The lawsuit covers over two million multiple-entry visa applicants who overpaid the Canadian government, some by as much as $55 per application between 2009 and 2015, according to the lawsuit.
Under the Financial Administration Act, the government cannot charge service fees in excess of the actual cost of providing a service. VFS was not named in the lawsuit.
According to a statement of defence, lawyers for the attorney general of Canada are seeking to have the case dismissed, citing a six-year limitation period on when claims can be made and denying that fees paid exceeded the cost of the services provided.
0:50 Mendicino on if increased immigration will lead to less jobs: ‘Immigrants create jobs’
Avvy Go, director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic in Toronto, has had several clients who have used VFS Global Services.
“(Canada) should be doing it in-house so that there will be proper oversight and protection of the private information that these individuals hold,” she said.
“I didn’t even know that the company was part of a privacy breach until you told me about it and that’s very problematic.”
Other foreign nationals who spoke with Global News said that while they didn’t have a negative experience with VFS, they were concerned about how the outsourcing of visa applications works.
“Data is the most valuable commodity right now,” said Edwin Dioso, who is from the Philippines and currently living and working in the United States. “Usually, we would rely on the strong arm of the government to protect our data. But if it’s a third party, it’s a private company, then I’m not so sure.
“Visa application work is the last thing governments should outsource.”
According to documents obtained by Finance Uncovered – a U.K.-based investigative news agency – VFS holding company accounts filed in Luxembourg show that revenues increased 60 per cent between 2016 and 2018.
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The company reports that its growth has been driven by “higher value added service revenues,” meaning more applicants buying expensive premium services, which lawyers say have led to the “commercialization of life decisions.”
The company has also been accused of pressuring visa applicants into buying “premium” services – like a VIP-style waiting lounge – that they often don’t need and can’t afford, according to Finance Uncovered. For applicants looking to come to Canada from the Philippines, the premium lounge costs C$69.76, for example.
According to a VFS spokesperson, these premium services were created “in response to customer demand for greater accessibility, personalization, and convenience in visa services,” and are clearly identified as optional to customers.
While other countries receive a portion of revenues from VFS Global, Canada does not. Canada’s contract with VFS is set to expire on Oct. 31, 2023, but can be extended.
HAMILTON – It remains faint but Bo Levi Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a playoff pulse.
Mitchell threw two touchdown passes as Hamilton defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 37-21 in the CFL’s annual Hall of Fame game Saturday afternoon. The Ticats (4-9) earned a second straight win to move to within six points of the third-place Toronto Argonauts (7-6) in the East Division.
Hamilton visits Toronto on Friday night.
“Obviously they’re (wins) huge now,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favours by getting into this position and not being able to really control our own destiny.
“But right now, we need certain people to win at certain times. Our job is to go out there and try to win the next five, then the next three after that.”
Mitchell finished 20-of-27 passing for 299 yards and an interception. He entered weekend action leading the CFL in passing yards (3,383) and TD strikes (21).
Greg Bell’s 15-yard TD run at 11:30 of the fourth and two-point convert put Hamilton up 36-21 after backup Jeremiah Masoli led Ottawa on two scoring drives. Following a 13-yard TD strike to Andre Miller at 2:53, Masoli found Dominique Rhymes on a 10-yard touchdown pass at 7:43 before Khalan Laborn’s two-point convert cut Hamilton’s lead to 29-21.
“When you’re scoring from (15) yards out on a run play, that makes offence easy,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of those things when you get down there as a quarterback, it takes you sometimes five, eight, 10 plays and now it’s ‘OK, now we have to create some stuff and find something.’
“When you hand the ball off and you’re scoring from (15) yards, it makes the offence really easy.”
Ottawa (8-4-1) would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory.
Ottawa committed six turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles, once on downs) before an announced Tim Hortons Field gathering of 22,119. Lawrence Woods III also returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown at 11:51 of the first quarter that put Hamilton ahead 10-3.
“You’ve got to bring your best every single week and this wasn’t our best, all of us, from coaches to the players,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “If you don’t play great for four quarters, I don’t care who you’re playing you’re not going to have a successful day.
“We should’ve made the tackle (on Woods), we had him wrapped up it’s that simple. Even though we didn’t make the play on that, there should’ve been extra bodies there to clean it up when he did break the tackle.”
Hamilton also tied the season series with Ottawa 1-1. The teams meet again at TD Place on Oct. 25.
“If we didn’t turn it over today I would’ve said we played really well offensively and that to me is what the biggest difference is,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “Even the turnovers today (interception, fumble), at least they were in their end and we weren’t giving them a short field.
“The biggest play of the game was Woodsie’s return. It got us jump-started, gave us the lead and we were kind of off after that.”
Ottawa starter Dru Brown was 17-of-27 passing for 164 yards and an interception. Masoli entered late in the third and finished 13-of-19 passing for 183 yards with two TDs and two interceptions, but Dyce said Brown will start next weekend against Montreal (10-2-1), which earned a 19-19 tie Saturday night with Calgary (4-8-1).
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s ’24 class of S.J. Green, Chad Owens, Weston Dressler, Vince Goldsmith and Vince Coleman, along with builders Ray Jauch and Ed Laverty (posthumously), was honoured at halftime. All were enshrined Friday night.
Steven Dunbar Jr. and Ante Litre had Hamilton’s other touchdowns. Marc Liegghio kicked two field goals, three converts and two singles.
Ottawa’s Lewis Ward booted two field goals and a convert.
Mitchell culminated a five-play, 96-yard march with a 20-yard TD pass to Litre at 13:34 of the third. It followed Jonathan Moxey’s interception.
Liegghio’s single at 7:05 of the third put Hamilton up 22-6.
Mitchell’s 54-yard TD strike to Dunbar at 14:18 of the second staked Hamilton to its 21-6 halftime lead. The advantage was well-deserved as the Ticats had more first downs (12-six), net offensive yards (260-144) and scored on both offence and special teams.
Mitchell was 14-of-20 passing for 210 yards and a TD, but his interception cost Hamilton at least a field-goal attempt. Dunbar had five receptions for 113 yards and the touchdown.
Brown completed 13-of-21 passes for 127 yards.
Liegghio’s missed 47-yard attempt went for the single at 12:45 to put Hamilton ahead 14-6. It followed a Kiondre Smith catch that was ruled incomplete and at the very least cost the Ticats a first down that would’ve kept the drive alive.
Ward’s 30-yard kick at 9:15 had pulled Ottawa to within 13-6.
Liegghio’s 19-yard field goal at 5:13 pushed Hamilton’s lead to 13-3. It followed the defence stopping Ottawa’s Dustin Crum on third-and-one, giving the Ticats possession at the Redblacks 40.
Liegghio’s 47-yard field goal opened the scoring at 2:42 before Ward tied in with a 24-yard boot at 8:44.
UP NEXT
Redblacks: Host the Montreal Alouettes (10-2-1) next Saturday, Sept. 21.
Tiger-Cats: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (7-6) on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – Needing three points to keep their playoff push alive, Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio and Deandre Kerr stepped up with first-half goals against Austin FC on Saturday with goalkeeper Sean Johnson doing his bit at the other end.
A 76th-minute goal by Austin’s Owen Wolff made for a nervy ending but TFC hung on for a 2-1 win.
While Toronto (11-15-3) remains on the Major League Soccer playoff bubble in eighth place in the Eastern Conference (the eighth- and ninth-place teams in each conference square off in a wild-card playoff with the winner facing the top seed in the conference), other results went their way.
Seventh-place Charlotte, 10th-place Atlanta and 11th-place Philadelphia all lost while ninth-place D.C. United tied.
Toronto midfielder Alonso Coello called it “a game we had to win.”
“It’s a big win … To see that fight tonight was important,” added coach John Herdman.
Austin (9-12-7) came into the game in 11th place in the West, two points below ninth-place Minnesota. The Texas side has won just one of its last six league games (1-4-1).
Austin outshot Toronto 7-6 (6-2 edge in shots on target) in the first half but found itself trailing 2-0 at the break as Toronto took advantage of its chances and the visitors didn’t in their first-ever visit to BMO Field, before an announced crowd of 25,538.
Toronto had a dream start, catching Austin on the counterattack in the seventh minute. A sliding Austin player dispossessed an onrushing Kerr, who had been set free by a long ball from Coello, but the ball bounced to Osorio, who beat goalkeeper Brad Stuver with a rising shot.
It was the Toronto captain’s second goal of the season in league play and his 65th for TFC in all competitions. Only Sebastian Giovinco (83) and Jozy Altidore (79) scored more in Toronto colours.
TFC went ahead on another counterattack in the 30th minute after an Austin giveaway. Osorio found Richie Laryea outpacing his marker and the wingback unselfishly sent a perfect low cross across goal for Kerr to knock home for his third of the season.
Wolff, the son of Austin head coach Josh Wolff, made it interesting with his late strike. The 19-year-old U.S. youth international, controlling a long ball, beat defender Raoul Petretta and then waited out Johnson before slotting it home for his first of the season.
Toronto survived a nervy six minutes of stoppage time as Austin pressed for the equalizer. Austin outshot Toronto 14-9 (8-3 in shots on target) and had 52.5 per cent possession.
The win evened Toronto’s home record at 7-7-0, while Austin slipped to 3-8-3 on the road.
It was a costly evening for Austin with defender Brendan Hines-Ike, midfielder Jhojan Valencia and star attacker Sebastian Driussi allpicking up cautions to miss Wednesday’s game with Los Angeles FC due to yellow-card accumulation.
Toronto defender Shane O’Neill will miss Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus for the same reason. Toronto could be short mid-week, too. The hope is veteran centre back Kevin Long, who missed Saturday’s game after tweaking his hamstring in training, will be good to go.
Toronto has five games remaining, including three more at home as it looks to return to the post-season for the first time since 2020 when it lost to Nashville after extra time at the first hurdle.
It is a challenging road.
TFC hosts Columbus, the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami while playing away at the Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire. All but Chicago are in playoff positions.
The only previous meeting between Toronto and Austin was in May 2023, when Zardes scored a 91st-minute winner to give Austin a 1-0 win over visiting Toronto, which was then mired at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. That loss prompted a post-game outburst from Italian star Federico Bernardeschi about TFC’s drab play.
Then-coach Bob Bradley benched Bernardeschi for the next game.
Current coach John Herdman made four changes to his starting 11 with Bernardeschi and Osorio returning from suspension and Coello and Kerr also slotting in. Coello, who had missed the last eight league games with a hamstring injury, was impressive in his 59-minute return.
Both Toronto and Austin suffered home losses last time out going into the international break. Toronto was beaten 3-1 by D.C. United while Austin lost 1-0 to Vancouver.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MONTREAL – CF Montreal is back in the win column after securing a 2-1 Major League Soccer win over Charlotte FC on Saturday night at Stade Saputo.
Montreal’s form had suffered of late, with just one win in MLS since July, but Laurent Courtois’ squad showed a level of poise and control over the tempo of the game that had not been seen since the beginning of the season.
“What we’ve changed in the last few weeks or months in terms of our methodology or coaching, is nothing. We did the exact thing, We had the exact same words, and we expressed them the exact same way,” said Courtois. “Today, everything just clicked.”
Caden Clark scored for the first time as a Montreal (7-12-9) player in the 23rd minute, in addition to Bryce Duke’s goal three minutes later that ended up being the winner, while Tim Ream found the back of the net for Charlotte (10-10-8).
Montreal had the first major scoring chance of the match after 15 minutes of play. With a free kick roughly 25 metres away from goal, Gabriele Corbo sent a near-perfect shot smashing off the crossbar.
Montreal would continue to dictate the tempo in the opening phase, finding first blood just seven minutes later.
Following a phenomenal triple-save from Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, the ball fell to Clark who volleyed the ball into the wide-open net, picking up his first goal for the club.
“I think you don’t lose the feeling (of scoring), everything happens for a reason, you just can’t lose yourself in the chaos,” said Clark, who had missed a full season due to injury and was briefly without a club, but was grateful for Courtois’ confidence in him.
“(To have a coach’s confidence) is huge and is something I’ve had both ends of so you just can’t take advantage of that in the wrong way. I’m going to keep my discipline with the game plan and keep my head right.”
With momentum completely on their side, the home side doubled the lead just three minutes later. Montreal continued to build up play on the left flank and found a streaking Raheem Edwards in behind the defence who cut the ball back to Duke, sending the Stade Saputo crowd into a frenzy.
Just after the half-hour mark, Charlotte pulled one back through a set piece — something Montreal has struggled defending all season — as Ream rose above everyone at the back post to score his first with his new club.
The second half began in a similar fashion to the end of the first, with Charlotte pressing high up the pitch and forcing several turnovers in dangerous areas. After surviving the pressure, Montreal began to regain control of the game near the hour mark, enjoying the lion’s share of the possession while Charlotte looked to hit back on the counterattack.
“I think when we conceded that goal we were like ‘here we go again.’ 2-1 is a tough lead before halftime … and at the beginning of the half we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and they pressed a bit more, they moved a bit more forward and that opened some gaps,” said captain Samuel Piette.
“I was happy with that, it shows character. At the end of the day, we just wanted the three points and that’s what we got.”
As the game progressed, Charlotte pushed harder to find an equalizer but to no avail. With only one shot on target conceded, the second-worst defence in the league put up an impressive front and confidently rebuffed every single Charlotte attack.
“I’m a big fan of the back five’s performance in their discipline, competitiveness, and synchronization with balls in behind,” said Courtois.
“We can’t explain sometimes in a game it’s not there, they’re capable and today they showed it. Let’s see tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
Both teams are back in action on Sept. 18 away from home as Montreal will look to avenge a 5-0 rout against the New England Revolution while Charlotte visits Orlando City SC.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
