The Canadian immigration in Pakistan is dealing with many social issues some of which include child brides, arranged marriages between first cousins, polygamy as well as forced marriages. The Canadian officials working at the immigration and visa office in Islamabad, Pakistan prepared a 26 page report which brings out the details of these issues. This report has been acquired by Richard Kurland who is an immigration lawyer. He obtained this report with the help of information legislation and furnished it to the QMI Agency.

According to the report, the Spousal Reunification programme in Islamabad has many Muslim proxy marriages which the families have arranged by themselves. Most such marriages are between first cousins. However, few exceptions are there.

As per Kurland, when it comes to the rich families in Pakistan, polygamy is quite common for those intending to immigrate to Canada. More so, the Canadian authorities have to decline such applications many a times just because a man has more than one wife.

However, this is definitely not an ideal situation. Just because the society practices polygamy doesn’t mean that visas would be given to all. It is important to divorce some and has to be worked out within the family. Most of the times, it is the second or the third wife who is sponsored into the nation as Skilled Workers for a particular enterprise or to work as a maid for a household.

When it comes to Canada, marriage within first cousins is not a common practice as the risk of birth defects is much higher. However, the same is considered legal in Pakistan.