Four minutes was all it took for Hang (Sam) Li to lose his permanent residence in Canada.
That was the amount of time Officer AH11413 spent before approving an application to voluntarily surrender Li鈥檚 status 鈥 without noticing it had been fraudulently filed by someone else and was, as the Edmonton man claims, riddled with errors that should have been trivially easy to check.
For 115 days in 2023, said Li in a lawsuit against Ottawa, he was without legal status, authorization to work, provincial health care insurance and access to social services while fighting to convince immigration officials he was a victim of identity theft and to have the 鈥渦nlawful revocation鈥 decision reconsidered.
The 35-year-old immigrant from China is seeking compensation from the federal government in court for lost income, reimbursement of legal fees, medical expenses incurred when he was without provincial health coverage, plus punitive damages, amounting to $3 million.
Li鈥檚 case is also raising questions about whether his story is unique and how easily the immigration system can be exposed to other fraudulent attempts to strip people of their legal status.
Immigration Department missed several red flags that would have raised suspicions about the fake renunciation.
Immigration Department missed several red flags that would have raised suspicions about the fake renunciation.
Li, now a citizen, is seeking a court order to forbid the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from processing any application purporting to be from him unless officers first verify his identity. That鈥檚 because whoever tried to get Li鈥檚 permanent residency revoked is still out there and, he said, attempts have recently been made to go after his citizenship.
鈥淚 should not have to pay to fix the Immigration Department鈥檚 mistakes,鈥 Li told the Star in an interview. 鈥淚 continue to be at risk for losing my citizenship because there鈥檚 still no policies in place to protect me from identity theft.鈥
Last week, the federal government filed a motion to strike Li鈥檚 lawsuit, arguing that Ottawa handled the application 鈥渋n the usual case,鈥 that his permanent residence has been restored, and that he failed to provide evidence that the immigration officer acted out of bad faith.聽
The officer 鈥渃ould not have known that a bad actor, who legitimately had possession of the Plaintiff鈥檚 personal immigration information, provided to the bad actor by the Plaintiff, would be used in such a manner,鈥 the government said in its submissions.聽
The 鈥渂ald assertions鈥 in Li鈥檚 claim cannot be sustained because the officer did their job processing a 鈥渟eemingly legitimate鈥 application, the government argued.
According to Li鈥檚 claim, the Immigration Department received a paper application through the mail on June 5, 2023, purporting to voluntarily renounce his permanent residency status. However, Li said he did not prepare or submit the application, which instead was filed by 鈥渢he Identity Thief鈥 who impersonated him.
Immigration notes showed Officer AH11413 began processing the application five days later, at 07:54 local time, by creating an online management file and assigning an application number. At 07:58 local time, the application was approved and closed.
鈥淎t this precise moment, Hang Li ceased to be a permanent resident,鈥 the lawsuit said.
If the officer had not been negligent, Li alleges, she would have spotted 鈥渕ultiple obvious markers of fraud鈥 in the application, including: signatures that don鈥檛 match his previous filings; made-up information for the date and location he was granted permanent residency; incorrect document numbers for his record of landing, confirmation of permanent residence and permanent resident card 鈥 all available to department records; and doctored photographs that didn鈥檛 meet requirements and instead showed him wearing AirPods in a public washroom.
According to the lawsuit, Li believes the fraudulent application was submitted by a former landlord, with whom he had a tenant dispute in B.C.
Although the lawsuit offers no clear proof of involvement, Li notes he previously sent the landlord personal information and even a similar photograph to what appeared in the false filing.
The WhatsApp photo that was included in the application to renounce Li’s status.
Hang (Sam) Li photoOn July 27, 2023, a letter was mailed via Canada Post to Li鈥檚 old address in Winnipeg to confirm the false renunciation had been processed. If his old landlord at that address had not forwarded him the letter, Li鈥檚 lawsuit said, he would not have learned about the identity theft and immigration decision.
Li subsequently called and submitted web forms to the Immigration Department multiple times to try to rectify the situation, and ultimately had to retain lawyers to both lobby officials to reconsider and ask the Federal Court to intervene.
Finally, on Nov. 2, 2023, Officer AH11413 agreed to cancel the decision and restore his status. His permanent resident card was reactivated 25 days later, and he dropped his Federal Court challenge.
鈥淚mmigration took away his permanent residency, and then he was forced to prove to the government why it shouldn鈥檛 be taken away,鈥 Andrew Koltun, Li鈥檚 lawyer, said in an interview. 鈥淭hey also took away Sam鈥檚 health. It caused such immense stress and anxiety on him that it has had negative mental health effects.鈥
The lawsuit claims Li spent about $28,000 in legal fees, gave up a job offer as a supervisor at a fast-food joint and lost income from stock trading because his financial institution required proof of permanent residence to conduct trades.
Li claims he has continued to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder from the ordeal and remains 鈥渄epressed and paranoid鈥 that this can happen again with his new citizenship. He said he also developed inflammation in multiple parts of his body over a short period of time that his treating physician believes could be related to his PTSD and depression.聽
In the meantime, Li claims someone 鈥 perhaps the same person 鈥 may still be targeting his legal status.
Since July 2024, on three occasions, the lawsuit alleges that Li received calls from an individual claiming to be an immigration employee to alert him to the submission of an application to renounce his citizenship.
鈥淗ang has an ongoing fear that the identity thief has not stopped,鈥 Koltun told the Star. 鈥淭he Immigration Department, at a bare minimum, has a duty to ensure the authenticity of applications that it receives. What happened to Sam could happen to almost any permanent resident in Canada.鈥
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