Honesty and Competence
The Globe and Mail published an article on December 10th by Vanmala Subramanian reporting that dozens of migrant workers in Vancouver have allegedly been defrauded of thousands of dollars by an immigration consultant who promised the workers permanent residency through a federal immigration program that the workers say did not exist.
The alleged scam is now the subject of a potential class-action suit that is making its way through the court system in British Columbia.
The lawsuit contends that the actions of the alleged perpetrator of the scam were not only financially ruinous for the workers – most of them migrants from Mexico – but resulted in some of them unknowingly working without visas while waiting for their work permits to be processed. This meant that they were losing their opportunity to apply for genuine immigration status in Canada.
In July, the immigration consultant involved was indefinitely suspended by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), the regulatory body for immigration consultants in Canada.
The visa status of temporary foreign workers in Canada is usually tied to their employment, meaning that if they do not have a job with an employer who is approved to hire temporary foreign workers, they will not be granted a work permit.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc on a global scale in every aspect of the economic activity and how governments have administered programs in all sectors. Immigration has been no exception, with policy and program changes designed to adapt to emerging circumstances. This has caused confusion among some people, and these changes have made it easier to exploit
The Globe and Mail quoted Jonathon Braun, a lawyer at the Migrant Workers Centre, said that because there were so many immigration policy changes during COVID, it was easy for immigration consultants to make promises to workers without status that were not necessarily true. “Of course, many of those new immigration programs were very positive,” he said. “But our immigration system is already so complex and layered, and often lends itself to abuse.”
Immigration fraud and the involvement of licensed immigration consultants is not a new phenomenon in Canada. An extensive Globe investigation in 2019 of 45 immigration consultants and their practices found that in recent years, thousands of foreign workers had been exploited for their money and labour, often given false assurances of long-term work permits and the promise of permanent residency.
The immigration consulting industry in Canada is generally an honest and open one. The body regulating its activities license companies like ICGC. Without a license in good standing ICGC and our colleagues would not be permitted to operate.
This example the exception, and not the rule. While you can trust Canada and those licensed to operate our businesses here, always ask questions. The immigration system in Canada is highly complex and multi-layered one. It is extremely important for those seeking the help of immigration consultants to request references of them and to conduct their own due diligence on their experience, track record, and reputation.
ICGC welcomes this and we are proud of our track record of trusted performance, and our team of honest, competent professionals