Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, waits to appear before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa, on March 20.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Two federal ministers have been asked by MPs to testify before the immigration committee about what is being done to clamp down on illegal job selling to immigrants – abuse of a federal program to bring in workers from abroad.
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and Immigration Minister Marc Miller have been asked to testify about fraud committed under the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which allows employers to hire a foreign worker if no Canadian is available to do the job.
The committee’s motion, passed last week, cited reports in The Globe and Mail since September about jobs-for-sale scams in which international students and foreign workers are illegally charged thousands of dollars by unscrupulous employers and consultants to get a job in Canada.
Immigration consultants and lawyers, aware of the practice, say they fear the scams may get worse as international students, squeezed by recent changes to the postgraduate work-permit program, will search for other ways to stay and work in Canada to rack up points to qualify for permanent residence.
The Globe has seen advertisements online asking for payment for jobs, including from people already in Canada on visitor visas.
Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec told the committee last week he was concerned that “there’s a serious amount of LMIA fraud” and he had heard from a number of immigration consultants about foreign workers being targeted and fraudulently charged to secure a job here.
“The Liberal government has to explain why they’ve allowed dishonest employers to defraud immigrants tens of thousands of dollars while also hurting Canadian workers who missed out on chances to compete for these jobs,” he said in a statement.
Immigration rule changes needed to stop jobs-for-sale scam, experts say
The committee has also asked officials from the two federal departments to give evidence as part of a new study into LMIA fraud.
The launch of the probe came as the Canada Border Services Agency announced that, after a five-year investigation, unlicenced immigration consultant Maneet (Mani) Malhotra, from Mississauga, had pleaded guilty on April 8 in an Edmonton court to immigration offences.
She had been found charging clients to arrange employment in Alberta, and other infringements of the law.
Ms. Malhotra was handed an 18-month conditional sentence, including six months of house arrest, and was ordered to pay $148,000 in victim restitution to newcomers.
The CBSA, which began investigating Ms. Malhotra and her Edmonton-based business, NAMI Immigration Inc., in 2019, said in a statement that two clients paid her $30,000 and $45,000 to arrange employment in Alberta. But they did not gain jobs, and were forced instead into a scheme where they were required to pay for fraudulent pay stubs.
The CBSA discovered other incidents where Ms. Malhotra charged for immigration services that included fake job offers and forged documents.
Since May 1, 2019, the CBSA has laid charges against 153 people for fraudulent immigration consultant-related offences.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Maneet (Mani) Malhotra had been operating as an immigration consultant without a licence.