A Winnipeg man claims he was the victim of marriage fraud by a woman from India.

Amarpreet Singh Khurmee paid tens of thousands of dollars on a lavish wedding in India last year, including immigration expenses for his new bride.

He wanted a traditional marriage with a woman who understood his culture, so he got a distant relative to help set up the arranged union.

But as soon as his new wife arrived to live with him in Winnipeg, Khurmee knew something was wrong.

'Immigration marriage fraud is rampant in Canada. It's epidemic.'—Julie Taub, immigration lawyer

"From the first day, she was totally different person — she don't talk, she don't eat," he said.

She would go into a closed room to phone family members in India, he said, noting he eavesdropped and heard them advise her to wait until she had a permanent residency card.

Then they told her to call police and claim she was assaulted, Khurmee said.

"[The police] charged me and my dad — assault charges," Khurmee said.

Then his wife left and moved to Ontario, just 25 days after arriving in Canada.

The assault charges were dropped when she didn't show up for the trial.

The couple's divorce became final in April 2010.

According to immigration lawyer Julie Taub, "marriage fraud is rampant in Canada. It's epidemic." And it's rare for people who commit it to get caught, she added.

Foreign nationals who marry Canadians receive permanent residency status and the ability to sponsor more family members almost immediately after arriving here.

The law is stricter in the United States and Australia, where couples have to prove they are married for two years before getting those rights, Taub said.