Some foreign workers paying $30K or more in illegal fees for a job in Alberta

Immigration lawyers, consultants and agencies in Alberta are sounding the alarm over what they say is a common scam targeting temporary foreign workers, as the province's population grows.

The scheme can involve employers, immigration consultants and recruiters who sometimes work together to promise jobs to temporary foreign workers — often for tens of thousands of dollars.

They sell labour market impact assessments (LMIAs). That's a federal document most employers need before they can hire a temporary foreign worker, proving they could not fill the job with a Canadian or permanent resident for at least 28 days.

It's illegal to charge for an LMIA under Canadian immigration laws. The government fee for an LMIA application ($1,000) should be fully covered by the employer who is facing a labour shortage.

But those who work in the immigration field say it's no secret that it does happen due to a poorly structured system, a lack of enforcement and desperation.

At the Centre for Newcomers, CEO Anila Umar has been watching the scam evolve for around 30 years.

"The temporary foreign workers — they don't often know better," said Umar.

"They don't realize that this isn't the process and this isn't how you're supposed to do it. So they come in good faith. They may spend years collecting the money that they need. They get here and then they're told that it was a complete sham and there was another way that they could have come here without having to spend any money."

She says the scam has historically been more common in cities with larger populations like Toronto and Vancouver, but it's now becoming more common in Alberta as the province experiences record-breaking population growth.

Umar says she is now seeing an average of two people a week come into the centre asking for help with this issue.

"Alberta is quickly becoming the No. 1 destination [for immigration]. So with that, we're also going to have the growing pains of that. We're also going to have these issues come in a lot more, unfortunately."

Umar and others who work in immigration say the exploitation often doesn't end once the worker has paid. 

Because temporary foreign workers' permits are tied to their employers, and they've already spent thousands to get the job, they can be more vulnerable to further abuse. 

Calgary-based immigration lawyer Jatin Shory — who has worked with clients who've been charged fees up to $75,000 — calls extreme cases of this scam "a form of pseudo slavery."

He says he's seen instances where employers claw back salary as a way for workers to pay their debt if they can't pay the full fee upfront. And when it's time to apply for permanent residency, he says many of these employers charge even more money.

"Employees are being abused emotionally, physically. There are threats looming over their heads of deportation if they don't comply. Some fall into sexual abuse type situations. The other side of it is the employee comes to Canada and the job doesn't exist at all," said Shory.

Tackling the problem

The federal government, which has been trying to tackle the problem in various forms for at least 30 years, says it takes this issue seriously and is working to prevent further fraud.

A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada pointed to regulations introduced in 2022 that aim to hold employers more accountable for the actions of recruiters.

But according to the government's list of fines issued to non-compliant employers since 2016, no employer over that period has been fined specifically for charging fees related to hiring, or ensuring anyone else wasn't charging the worker fees related to hiring.

"No employers have been yet fined for this new condition; however, some on-going inspections may include this condition," said a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada.

Instead, employers are more commonly fined for other offences, like failing to provide documents to an inspector. Over $2 million in fines were issued to non-compliant employers between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.

In May, the ministers in charge of this file — Marc Miller and Randy Boissonnault — were called to testify in front of the standing committee on citizenship and immigration about what's being done to deal with this long-standing issue.

"I don't believe there's been much effectiveness in any of the anti-fraud measures that have been introduced," said Conservative MP Tom Kmiec. "I would like the ministers to come in and explain themselves."

The Canada Border Services Agency, however, has charged immigration consultants and unauthorized practitioners (UAPs) for this scam. Most recently, in May, the owner of an Edmonton-based immigration business was convicted for charging $30,000 and $45,000 to arrange employment for foreign workers.

A familiar story

It all sounds familiar to Sanajabin Sheikh.

Sheikh, 36, says she paid roughly $40,000 in intervals to a group of immigration consultants and recruiters who claimed to be co-ordinating a job and work permit as a food service supervisor at a Calgary daycare.

"I trusted these people," said Sheikh, who came to Canada from India on a visitor visa with her five-year-old son. The federal government introduced a policy during the pandemic that allows visitors to apply for work permits without leaving the country.

Ultimately, she says the job was nothing like she was promised. Instead of supervising staff and ordering inventory, she says she was told to scrub toilets, clean windows and change diapers. In her one month on the job, Sheikh says was called in for only seven or eight shifts despite being told it was a full-time job. She ended up quitting.

Sheikh has since filed a civil claim against the employer and the consultants, without using a lawyer, in a bid to get her money back. Sheikh's former employer told CBC News it isn't affiliated with any immigration consultants and her work duties aligned with her job description.

Her allegations have not been tested in court.

The Alberta government is paying attention to the issue.

Alberta's ministry of jobs, economy and trade said it received 508 complaints from temporary foreign workers in 2023-24, compared with 339 complaints the year before.

The ministry would not provide details about what kinds of complaints were filed, citing privacy reasons.

The department said it also received 338 complaints from temporary foreign workers with signs of human trafficking in 2023-24, compared with 208 the year before.

The province said human trafficking involves "the recruitment … direction or influence over the movements of a person in order to exploit that person, typically through sexual exploitation or forced labour." The province includes migrant workers in its list of groups at risk of human trafficking.

"Alberta's government has increased our education, outreach and partnership work over the past year regarding temporary foreign workers. This will have had some effect on the awareness and accessibility of reporting claims," said Minister Matt Jones in an emailed statement through his press secretary.

An immigration consultant who has been trying to raise awareness about this scam and other forms of immigration fraud on social media says he believes the number of temporary foreign workers being exploited is much higher, but most workers don't speak up out of fear.

The role of immigration consultants

Steven Paolasini, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant at Calgary-based SJP Immigration Inc., says the scam is flourishing because the temporary foreign worker program is poorly structured and relies on trusting the employer.

He explains that immigration consultants are allowed to charge employers for recruitment or assisting with the LMIA process, but it is illegal for immigration consultants to charge applicants for a job or for helping someone find a job.

What they can charge applicants for is immigration services, like helping them submit a work permit. While applicants can submit work permits on their own, many ask for help to navigate the complicated process. 

Paolasini said some immigration consultants — licensed and not — overcharge applicants for that work.

That's because there's no cap for how much they can charge for those services in Canada under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, the regulatory body created by the federal government in 2021.

Registered consultants "must set fair and reasonable fees," according to the college, but the way the system works is that consultants weigh the value of their work and charge fees based on that.

"The problem, though, is because it does offer that permanent residency (PR) benefit, that it's somehow baked into the cost. The value of PR and the value of status in Canada means a lot to people and they're willing to pay for it," he said.

Shory said another reason the scheme is difficult to put an end to is because it goes beyond Canada. He said many unauthorized practitioners abroad recruit people who will pay for a job in Canada, and some work with immigration consultants here.

"The networks that are built overseas.… How are you supposed to regulate that? That's not possible," said Shory.

He said the scam has also become so prevalent that for many people across the globe, it's seen as the new norm — it's thought of as the main way to get into Canada to find work, said Shory.

A spokesperson for the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants says it's recently shut down approximately 1,500 websites and social media pages advertising unauthorized practitioners (UAPs). It also has a public registry of licensed consultants.

"This work is just one of the ways we tackle the problem of UAPs and we will continue to build on it as part of the key strategic plan objective to 'combat UAPs by enforcement, licensing and awareness,'" Stef Lach told CBC News.

Lach said licensees who engage in illegal activities could face restitution, fines and get their licences permanently revoked.

Vulnerable open work permits

In one of its attempts to help with the problem, the federal government introduced a new permit in 2019 that allows a temporary foreign worker experiencing or at risk of abuse to apply for an open work permit.

"This permit allows them to quickly exit the abusive situation and look for new work with a different employer," said Jeffrey MacDonald, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

By 2023, the number of open work permits issued to "vulnerable workers" increased by 759 per cent (from 240 in 2019 to 2,061 last year).

Improving the system

Paolasini said the government needs to take steps to better protect temporary foreign workers.

He said he wants the federal government to weigh foreign workers' qualifications for permanent residency by their work history, rather than the type of job they paid for.

He also wants temporary foreign workers' work permits to no longer be tied to their employers.

For Shory, quicker investigations are key. He also wonders if it's time to introduce larger penalties for non-compliant employers.

Umar said she wants to see the federal government put more resources toward doing spot checks of workplaces before an applicant starts the job.

As for Sheikh, though she is uncertain what the future will bring, she did get some good news recently. She found out this month that she was approved for a vulnerable open work permit.

"It gives me peace because I am somebody who wants to live an independent life," said Sheikh.