For years, politicians have been grappling with the issue of how to end untrained and unregulated people from providing immigration advice, also known as “ghost consulting.” There is a general consensus that tens of thousands of people each year are ripped off by ghost consultants and even more are ripped off by consultants who recommend fraudulent means by which to accomplish Canadian immigration goals.
Numerous attempts at cracking down on ghost and unethical consultants have been launched, including, but not limited to, requiring licensing, creating the much maligned Canadian Society of Immigrant Consultants, and even CIC launching extensive media campaigns warning the public of the risks of dealing with unauthorized representatives.
In June, the Conservative government launched the latest attempt at regulation, with the introduction of Bill C-35 into the House of Commons, also known as the Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act (the “Act”). The humor couched in the name of the Act may suggest to some that this attempt at regulation is disingenuous at worst and self-deprecating at best. Before I explain this view of the name of the Act, a quick review of the some of the highlights of the legislation is in order.
If enacted, the Act will provide that no person shall knowingly represent or advise a person for consideration – or offer to do so – in connection with [an immigration proceeding] unless the person is a member in good standing of a law society (i.e. a lawyer), or a member of a body designated by the government. There are a couple points to pull out of that sentence. First, the prohibition does not require that the person actually provide any advice. Even offering to do so is prohibition. (We’ll call that the crime of ‘attempted consulting’.) Second, the prohibition does not extend to people who will not be paid; that part isn’t new. Unpaid consultants, if disclosed to CIC, are allowed.
Second, the government will take greater control over any body designated to regulate immigration consultants (not lawyers). This appears to be a response to criticisms that the CSIC has not served its members of the public entirely well.
Third, the Act criminalizes ghost and unethical consulting. Any unauthorized person who represents or advises a person with regard to an immigration matter will have committed an offence. This applies to all stages in any immigration proceeding or application, including before the application has been made. The penalty for a summary offence is at most a two-year conviction or a $50,000 fine.
Finally, the government may make regulations permitting CIC to disclose information relating to the professional or ethical conduct of a lawyer or regulated immigration consultant to a body that is responsible for governing the conduct of those professions (a provincial law society, for example).
So will this solve the problem of ghost-consulting? Certainly amendments to the IRPA alone will be insufficient. The problem with introducing new regulations to end ghost consulting is of course that ghost consultants have no intention of being regulated. These amendments do not make it any easier to identify ghost consultants, such as by offering an incentive to an individual to disclose the existence of a ghost-consultant. Given this, and the fact of course that domestic legislation cannot do anything to address the issue of overseas ghost consultants, my initial opinion is that while the amendments will certainly result in more regulations for licensed consultants, which may or may not making them more professional than they already are (it depends on what is contained in the regulations), it certainly alone will not stop the practice of an individual saying “I can increase your chances.. I’m connected.. but we won’t tell CIC that I helped because they don’t like my clever tricks.”
Ryan Rosenberg is am immigration lawyer and partner at Larlee Rosenberg, Barristers & Solicitors, in Vancouver. Contact Ryan at 604-681-9887 or Ryan.Rosenberg@larlee.com or visit his website at www.larlee.com. This article was written with the assistance of Steven Meurrens, Associate at Larlee Rosenberg.
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Friday, August 10, 2007
Immigration Fraud - BEWARE
A number of months ago I wrote about how the future of Canada’s immigration policy will largely be based on employment opportunities in Canada. What this means is that as Canada’s labour pool shrinks, our demand for skilled workers who are job-ready increases. Now more than ever, Canadian companies must recruit foreign workers to meet labour market needs and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, provincial nominee programs and Service Canada have all reacted to address this need.
Based on the combination of a lack of skilled workers in Canada with a high level of interest from abroad to move to Canada, our country has created the perfect storm for both a successful immigration policy and in increase in immigration fraud.
Immigration fraud is not a new issue in Canada. Our immigration system has been abused over the years by immigration marriages, falsified investment documentation, hidden criminality and bogus refugee claims. However, as immigration policy slowly shifts from traditional selection criteria to an employment driven program, so to have the fraudulent activities shifted to that same area.
Abuse of our current employment related immigration programs typically occurs in one of two ways.
First, as you would expect, applicants are currently applying for provincial nomination or labour market opinions or arranged employment opinions on the basis of fake job offers. A fake job offer can mean that the company offering the position has no intention to hire the immigrant when they arrive, but is being paid to offer the job, the immigrant has produced fraudulent documents to prove his or her qualifications for the job, or companies are writing job offers to fit certain program criteria, but in fact expect the immigrant to perform a less impressive or completely different job once they arrive in Canada.
The second area of abuse of our immigration system comes in the form of immigrants paying for job offers. Most provinces have legislation that provides that a person must not request, charge or receive, directly or indirectly, from a person seeking employment a payment for employing or obtaining employment for the person seeking employment, or providing information about employers seeking employees. What this means is that paying $10,000 for a job offer for your relative overseas is illegal (this happens all the time!). Furthermore, all levels of government are aware of these problems and we can expect a higher level of monitoring and enforcement as these activities continue to swell out of control.
As with any illegal activity, the action is only as relevant as the consequence and in these cases the consequences can be severe. One possibility is that a finding of misrepresentation might be made against the potential immigrant thereby making it impossible for that person to even visit Canada (let alone immigrate) for a period of two years or even longer. If the immigrant used a forged or falsified document to commit immigration fraud a finding of serious criminality can be made as uttering a forged document is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Those in Canada committing the fraud may also be subject to criminal prosecution.
As economist Thomas Friedman put it, a good immigration policy has a tall wall and a wide gate. Canada’s gate is only getting wider as our economy continues to grow and jobs are created. As there is so much opportunity for immigrants it is truly a shame that abusing our system will only cause our wall to grow taller and our gate to narrow.
Based on the combination of a lack of skilled workers in Canada with a high level of interest from abroad to move to Canada, our country has created the perfect storm for both a successful immigration policy and in increase in immigration fraud.
Immigration fraud is not a new issue in Canada. Our immigration system has been abused over the years by immigration marriages, falsified investment documentation, hidden criminality and bogus refugee claims. However, as immigration policy slowly shifts from traditional selection criteria to an employment driven program, so to have the fraudulent activities shifted to that same area.
Abuse of our current employment related immigration programs typically occurs in one of two ways.
First, as you would expect, applicants are currently applying for provincial nomination or labour market opinions or arranged employment opinions on the basis of fake job offers. A fake job offer can mean that the company offering the position has no intention to hire the immigrant when they arrive, but is being paid to offer the job, the immigrant has produced fraudulent documents to prove his or her qualifications for the job, or companies are writing job offers to fit certain program criteria, but in fact expect the immigrant to perform a less impressive or completely different job once they arrive in Canada.
The second area of abuse of our immigration system comes in the form of immigrants paying for job offers. Most provinces have legislation that provides that a person must not request, charge or receive, directly or indirectly, from a person seeking employment a payment for employing or obtaining employment for the person seeking employment, or providing information about employers seeking employees. What this means is that paying $10,000 for a job offer for your relative overseas is illegal (this happens all the time!). Furthermore, all levels of government are aware of these problems and we can expect a higher level of monitoring and enforcement as these activities continue to swell out of control.
As with any illegal activity, the action is only as relevant as the consequence and in these cases the consequences can be severe. One possibility is that a finding of misrepresentation might be made against the potential immigrant thereby making it impossible for that person to even visit Canada (let alone immigrate) for a period of two years or even longer. If the immigrant used a forged or falsified document to commit immigration fraud a finding of serious criminality can be made as uttering a forged document is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Those in Canada committing the fraud may also be subject to criminal prosecution.
As economist Thomas Friedman put it, a good immigration policy has a tall wall and a wide gate. Canada’s gate is only getting wider as our economy continues to grow and jobs are created. As there is so much opportunity for immigrants it is truly a shame that abusing our system will only cause our wall to grow taller and our gate to narrow.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Shallow Labour Pool
Federal and provincial governments are tackling the issues of the labour shortage and immigration in different ways.
We all know that Canada’s, particularly British Columbia’s and Alberta’s, labour markets are suffering from a major shortage these days. In August, two major announcements were made to address this problem — one from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the other from the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (B.C. PNP).
These two announcements reflect the current trend in Canadian immigration policy. The federal government is focusing on broader issues, while the provinces are doing more and more of the work to actually facilitate the entry of immigrants and workers that address real labour market shortages.
CIC announced the creation of the Temporary Foreign Worker Units (TFWU) in Vancouver and Calgary. According to CIC, the TWFUs will offer guidance to employers and human resources service providers in those two cities seeking to employ foreign workers who fall into a very limited category – that is, applicants who do not need a labour market opinion from Service Canada to support their work permit applications. This does not reflect a policy shift, but rather a re-allocation of resources. If the pilot project is successful, CIC will likely expand the program across much of Canada.
Essentially, employers and foreign workers will be able to vet applications to the TFWUs before they apply for a work permit. The TFWU will review the application and give the employer or foreign worker advice on the application. If the application is done properly, the TFWU will issue a letter to the employer or foreign worker that can then be used to apply for a work permit at an entry port into Canada. The TFWU will not issue work permits directly.
The impact from this project should be noticeable to some, but largely ineffective regarding our current provincial labour market shortages. The problem is that the TFWUs are generally designed to address intra-company transferees, whom are non-Canadian employees working in offices outside of Canada who are being transferred to their company’s offices inside of Canada (typically well-paid executives), the kind of jobs covered under trade agreements, like NAFTA, GATS and the Canada Chile Free Trade Agreement (engineers, geologists, dentists, lawyers, etc.) and those facilitated under other reciprocal arrangements. None of these agreements facilitate entry of construction workers, manufacturers or other labourers in sectors that our economy is truly in dire need.
The B.C. PNP’s announcement in August is a very positive sign of new things to come on the immigration scene. The B.C. PNP office has been given the green light to hire six new staff to deal with the ever-increasing volume of applications received by that office. Of the six new hires, four are anticipated to work on strategic occupation cases, while the other two are earmarked for business applicants. Three new staff will be hired almost immediately and the other three will join in the not-to-distant future.
The B.C. PNP has the flexibility and desire to help employers in the province hire those key employees that they need to make their businesses successful, contributing to B.C.’s bottom line. Construction workers, including various trades are typically welcomed.
The B.C. PNP is available to almost all employers facing difficulties finding qualified persons to take on good and typically decently paying jobs. Once nominated, a B.C. PNP applicant may apply for a work permit that will bridge the gap between nomination and landing as a permanent resident. Under this program, a foreign worker can typically start work within a few of months of filing an application in the PNP office.
So as the federal government offloads its responsibilities, the provinces are filling in the gaps. In many respects, this trend reflects our political landscape — national identity coupled with regional diversity. We may actually be on the right track.
Ryan N. Rosenberg, BA, LLB, is an immigration lawyer with Larlee & Associates. Email him at rnrosenberg@larlee.com or call 604-681-9887.
We all know that Canada’s, particularly British Columbia’s and Alberta’s, labour markets are suffering from a major shortage these days. In August, two major announcements were made to address this problem — one from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the other from the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (B.C. PNP).
These two announcements reflect the current trend in Canadian immigration policy. The federal government is focusing on broader issues, while the provinces are doing more and more of the work to actually facilitate the entry of immigrants and workers that address real labour market shortages.
CIC announced the creation of the Temporary Foreign Worker Units (TFWU) in Vancouver and Calgary. According to CIC, the TWFUs will offer guidance to employers and human resources service providers in those two cities seeking to employ foreign workers who fall into a very limited category – that is, applicants who do not need a labour market opinion from Service Canada to support their work permit applications. This does not reflect a policy shift, but rather a re-allocation of resources. If the pilot project is successful, CIC will likely expand the program across much of Canada.
Essentially, employers and foreign workers will be able to vet applications to the TFWUs before they apply for a work permit. The TFWU will review the application and give the employer or foreign worker advice on the application. If the application is done properly, the TFWU will issue a letter to the employer or foreign worker that can then be used to apply for a work permit at an entry port into Canada. The TFWU will not issue work permits directly.
The impact from this project should be noticeable to some, but largely ineffective regarding our current provincial labour market shortages. The problem is that the TFWUs are generally designed to address intra-company transferees, whom are non-Canadian employees working in offices outside of Canada who are being transferred to their company’s offices inside of Canada (typically well-paid executives), the kind of jobs covered under trade agreements, like NAFTA, GATS and the Canada Chile Free Trade Agreement (engineers, geologists, dentists, lawyers, etc.) and those facilitated under other reciprocal arrangements. None of these agreements facilitate entry of construction workers, manufacturers or other labourers in sectors that our economy is truly in dire need.
The B.C. PNP’s announcement in August is a very positive sign of new things to come on the immigration scene. The B.C. PNP office has been given the green light to hire six new staff to deal with the ever-increasing volume of applications received by that office. Of the six new hires, four are anticipated to work on strategic occupation cases, while the other two are earmarked for business applicants. Three new staff will be hired almost immediately and the other three will join in the not-to-distant future.
The B.C. PNP has the flexibility and desire to help employers in the province hire those key employees that they need to make their businesses successful, contributing to B.C.’s bottom line. Construction workers, including various trades are typically welcomed.
The B.C. PNP is available to almost all employers facing difficulties finding qualified persons to take on good and typically decently paying jobs. Once nominated, a B.C. PNP applicant may apply for a work permit that will bridge the gap between nomination and landing as a permanent resident. Under this program, a foreign worker can typically start work within a few of months of filing an application in the PNP office.
So as the federal government offloads its responsibilities, the provinces are filling in the gaps. In many respects, this trend reflects our political landscape — national identity coupled with regional diversity. We may actually be on the right track.
Ryan N. Rosenberg, BA, LLB, is an immigration lawyer with Larlee & Associates. Email him at rnrosenberg@larlee.com or call 604-681-9887.
Sponsorship Debts
Many Canadian citizens and permanent residents see sponsorships for what they are; an effective means to reunite their families in Canada. But what most sponsors don’t realize is that when they sign a sponsorship agreement they are signing more than just a ticket to Canada for a loved one, they are signing up for some serious responsibility.
When signing a sponsorship agreement, a sponsor makes four promises. The first is to provide the sponsored person and that person’s family members with all “basic requirements” for the length of the sponsorship agreement. Basic requirements include food, shelter, clothing, fuel, utilities, household supplies, personal requirements and health care not provided by public health, including dental care and eye care.
The second promise is to honour the sponsorship agreement, no matter what other financial obligations or other personal circumstances arise.
The third promise is that the sponsored person and his or her family will not need to apply for social assistance benefits.
The fourth promise is to promptly respond to requests for help from the sponsored person and his or her family members by giving money, buying items or providing services for their living expenses.
The promises made under a sponsorship agreement last for the term of the agreement, which can range from 3 years to 10 years, depending on the relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored person.
What is important about these promises is that they are enforceable by the government of Canada. If, for example, a sponsored immigrant goes on welfare or some other social assistance that is paid for by a provincial or federal program, the government of Canada or a provincial government can collect money from the sponsor equal to the social assistance paid to the sponsored immigrant.
If you are considering sponsorship or if you have sponsored someone be sure to know your rights as the consequences of breaking these agreements are severe.
In recent times, the British Columbia provincial government has increased its efforts to collect on sponsorship debts by taking collection actions against sponsors in default. In some cases, the provincial government is trying to collect over $100,000 from some sponsors that failed to provide “basic requirements” for the sponsored persons.
In a typical case, a sponsored person will go on welfare because they can’t find work in Canada. Welfare payments will not be refused by the province if the person otherwise qualifies, even though a sponsorship agreement is in place. Once the province recognizes the existence of a sponsorship agreement, they try to collect all of the welfare payments from the sponsor.
In some cases the provincial government registered liens against sponsors’ homes and in others they have sued. Default on a sponsorship agreement will also prevent a sponsor from ever sponsoring another person until their debt is repaid.
Sponsorship agreements are generally enforceable, but there are circumstances where they may not be. For example, if the sponsor is the victim of abuse at the hands of the sponsored person, the sponsorship agreement may not be enforceable. There are other grounds that may make a sponsorship agreement unenforceable at law; however these grounds have not been tested in the courts.
If the government is trying to collect a sponsorship debt from you as a sponsor, be sure to know your rights before you pay the government a single penny. In some cases a debt will not be collectable at all while in other cases, there will be severe consequences.
When signing a sponsorship agreement, a sponsor makes four promises. The first is to provide the sponsored person and that person’s family members with all “basic requirements” for the length of the sponsorship agreement. Basic requirements include food, shelter, clothing, fuel, utilities, household supplies, personal requirements and health care not provided by public health, including dental care and eye care.
The second promise is to honour the sponsorship agreement, no matter what other financial obligations or other personal circumstances arise.
The third promise is that the sponsored person and his or her family will not need to apply for social assistance benefits.
The fourth promise is to promptly respond to requests for help from the sponsored person and his or her family members by giving money, buying items or providing services for their living expenses.
The promises made under a sponsorship agreement last for the term of the agreement, which can range from 3 years to 10 years, depending on the relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored person.
What is important about these promises is that they are enforceable by the government of Canada. If, for example, a sponsored immigrant goes on welfare or some other social assistance that is paid for by a provincial or federal program, the government of Canada or a provincial government can collect money from the sponsor equal to the social assistance paid to the sponsored immigrant.
If you are considering sponsorship or if you have sponsored someone be sure to know your rights as the consequences of breaking these agreements are severe.
In recent times, the British Columbia provincial government has increased its efforts to collect on sponsorship debts by taking collection actions against sponsors in default. In some cases, the provincial government is trying to collect over $100,000 from some sponsors that failed to provide “basic requirements” for the sponsored persons.
In a typical case, a sponsored person will go on welfare because they can’t find work in Canada. Welfare payments will not be refused by the province if the person otherwise qualifies, even though a sponsorship agreement is in place. Once the province recognizes the existence of a sponsorship agreement, they try to collect all of the welfare payments from the sponsor.
In some cases the provincial government registered liens against sponsors’ homes and in others they have sued. Default on a sponsorship agreement will also prevent a sponsor from ever sponsoring another person until their debt is repaid.
Sponsorship agreements are generally enforceable, but there are circumstances where they may not be. For example, if the sponsor is the victim of abuse at the hands of the sponsored person, the sponsorship agreement may not be enforceable. There are other grounds that may make a sponsorship agreement unenforceable at law; however these grounds have not been tested in the courts.
If the government is trying to collect a sponsorship debt from you as a sponsor, be sure to know your rights before you pay the government a single penny. In some cases a debt will not be collectable at all while in other cases, there will be severe consequences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)