Buyer Beware of Global Immigration Scams
Are you interested in immigrating to Canada? Have you contacted an immigration company that tells you they can guarantee you a job in Canada and will assist with finding one for you and doing all of your necessary paper work? If so, are they demanding that pay a large sum of money upfront (R 30,000)? If so, you may want to do your homework on the company.
Some companies are offering packages like this to clients and issuing them with a certificate made by the company saying that the client is eligible to work in Canada. Please be advised that these are not official or recognized certificates. In order to be eligible to work in Canada you first need a job offer from a Canadian employer, which in most cases needs to a positive Labour Market Opinion. A Labour Market Opinion is issued by the Canadian government and officially states that the employer can bring you (the foreign worker) into Canada to work for them. Then if both of these are in place you can apply for a work permit, if you are admissible to Canada.
There are never any guarantees when it comes to finding a job offer in Canada, or of obtaining a positive Labour Market Opinion. In most cases people are signing on and paying up front only to never have a job offer. This means the company has been paid and has not done any paper work or applications for the clients. In most cases the clients have had to look for the job themselves as the company has not done so as promised.
If you are interested in visiting, working, studying or immigrating to Canada make sure you do your homework and use only authorized representatives to assist you or consult with you. Many companies state that they have an authorized representative working for them, but they fail to tell you that that person is not handling your case. When anyone assesses you and qualifies you for Canadian Immigration or gives you paid advice, they need to be one of the following:
- Lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society,
- Notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and
- Immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC)
If you are on the phone with someone who is telling you that you qualify for Canadian Immigration, ask him or her if they are a salesperson or if they fall into one of the three authorized classifications above. If they say that they do, ask for their registration number and verify it on the official website for that organization. Also be clear that you want to speak with the authorized representative directly before signing on for anything. We highly recommend you get their phone number and direct e-mail address as well to see if they communicate with you, to ensure they are legitimate.
If you want to find out if the company you are thinking of using has a bad reputation or unhappy customers you can search for them on any of these websites:
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true…then it probably is.
