‘Employed or unemployed?’: Online ads illegally sell jobs to temporary foreign workers

This story is a collaboration between CBC News and The Guardian. Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF).

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It took a guy selling the work on Kijiji less than five minutes to quote his price: $25,000.

Posing as a newly graduated international student eager to work and achieve permanent residence (PR) in Canada, our undercover reporter had responded to the salesman’s classified ad for a government-approved position in food service.

During the phone call in July, the man asked her if she needed “a job at LMIA or just an unemployed LMIA.”

LMIA or Labor Market Impact AssessmentWhat the man is selling is a document issued to employers by the federal government. This allows employers to hire foreign workers after proving they cannot find a Canadian or permanent resident to fill a position.

These positions supported by LMIA not only allow foreign nationals to work legally in Canada, but also increase their chances of becoming permanent residents. given The federal government will reduce the number of available public relations points, it announced on Thursday. Starting next year, these permits may become even more interesting.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection ActIt is illegal for LMIAs to charge foreign workers any money.

“This is a complete fraud,” said Ravi Jain, principal attorney at Jain Immigration Law in Toronto.

“This person is doing something very illegal, and he’s doing it quite openly,” Jain said after listening to our recorded conversations with potential sellers, including on Kijiji. “It’s sad that there are people who know enough about the system and are willing to exploit it.”

This seller is one of dozens tracked by our team who continues to advertise these positions to immigrants on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji in exchange for cash. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced new measures in August “eliminating abuse and fraud” in the temporary foreign worker program.

In a months-long investigation, CBC and its reporting partner Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) contacted many of these online sellers. We have seen that these immigration programs offer the option of a “real” position or a “fake” position; these were supplemented with supporting documentation, such as fake pay stubs and tax receipts, to be presented to federal authorities as proof of work experience in Canada.

Agreements include ’employer costs’

In two interviews with vendors, our reporter explained that he did not have any work experience for certain skilled LMIA positions. He was still being offered LMIA-certified job offers for between $25,000 and $45,000.

In another conversation, the salesman explained how our reporter could pay to be added to the employer’s payroll after explaining that there was no actual job available.

“Obviously they are complicit,” Jain said. “This employer is probably getting a huge payout.”

We discovered that some of these deals explicitly included “employer costs” of up to $27,000. employers are prohibited from charging any recruitment fee to foreign nationals.

Yet another salesman told our reporter that although it is not an actual job, the starting pay for the position, which will be advertised on job boards, will include $3,000 “to show that we are doing our best to hire from the available pool, but we are not permanent residents (or ) (I couldn’t find) anyone who is a Canadian citizen” – a requirement for employers before obtaining an LMIA.

These agreements are contrary to the stated purpose of LMIAs, which the federal government implemented in 2014: “last and limited resort To temporarily fill acute labor shortages when qualified Canadians are not available.”

historicallyA larger share of workers on farms, greenhouses, and fish and seafood facilities are hired through LMIAs.

Multiple immigration lawyers consulted by CBC/IJF say both the temporary foreign workers who pay for these deals and the people who sell them can be charged with misrepresentation or misrepresentation. Canadian immigration law. If convicted, offenders face fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

Immigration experts say many foreign workers may not know that these agreements are illegal. But as Jain points out, immigrants pay the price for participating in them, both financially and because they are complicit in a crime. If they report these programs, they risk deportation and a five-year ban from entering Canada.

Two online sellers who made detailed offers to our undercover reporter in July have contacted CBC/IJF for follow-up comment. They did not respond to multiple requests.

Ads tripled after Ottawa intervention

Between July and September, our research team documented more than 125 online ads in 17 Canadian cities advertising LMIA work permits or LMIA-approved jobs by individuals posing as vendors, recruiting agencies, or regulated immigration consultants.

We have seen the volume of online advertisements offering LMIA positions in exchange for cash increase significantly in the weeks following various government changes to limit access to valuable leave. In July, CBC documented 29 ads circulating online; By September, that number had more than tripled to 97.

Almost a quarter of the ads were geolocated in the majority-immigrant community of Brampton, Ont.

In late August ESDC announced it would do so. Reducing the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada By refusing to process LMIAs in major cities where unemployment is high, except in industries experiencing labor shortages such as healthcare and construction.

But the same industries were also promoted in ads cataloged by CBC/IJF in September. For example, an ad published on September 4 promotes positions in the “construction and hospitality” industries, followed by a line in Hindi stating that the LMIA can be obtained “with and without work.”

When our undercover reporter contacted online sellers in September, he was still being given the opportunity to purchase LMIA-approved job offers costing up to $40,000 within minutes.

But potential sellers were tighter-lipped, refusing to discuss details of the deal over the phone or send anything in writing. Instead, our reporter was encouraged to show up at his office in the Greater Toronto Area with cash in hand.

One of the sellers declined to provide specific details of the proposed plan in writing.

“How can I tell you this if I don’t trust you?” he told our undercover reporter. “There are so many things going on in the market… that could go against me.”

On October 21, ESDC announced It will increase data sharing, working with provinces, territories and employer registries “to ensure only genuine and legitimate job offers are approved, help prevent abuse of the program and provide stronger protections for workers.”

In a statement to CBC/IJF, Employment and Social Development Canada emphasized that “regulatory changes are currently in the process of being implemented” and that in the future the department will take more time to “investigate and evaluate all applications.”

He added that when illegal fraud is reported, it “works closely with all departments to find and hold the culprit accountable.”

The department did not respond to CBC/IJF’s questions about how many agents it employs to investigate LMIA plans or how many investigations it has launched against employers or companies in the past five years.

print for PR

Foreign nationals hired to work in LMIA positions earn an additional 50 points. Comprehensive Ranking System scoresA points-based system used to evaluate permanent residence candidates.

That’s why these LMIA positions and the extra points they bring are highly appreciated by companies, says Calgary-based regulated immigration consultant Steven Paolasini. Millions of foreign nationals are competing for Limited quota in the PR race.

on thursday, the federal government further reduced the total number of permanent residents It will rise from 500,000 to 395,000 in 2025, with further cuts in subsequent years, putting additional pressure on temporary foreign residents vying for these places.

“People can have the same score on language, they can have the same score on education, they can have the same score on Canadian experience. What will differentiate them now is 50 points in regulated employment or potentially 200 points for the LMIA senior manager,” Paolasini said. he explained.

The number of international students, temporary foreign workers and refugees increased from 1.3 million in 2021 to nearly 2.8 million in the second quarter of this year, according to Statistics Canada.

“So what will happen to 2.8 million people?” said Jain.

“This pie is definitely not big enough.… This is where the pressure to get extra points for permanent residence comes in. (So foreign nationals) go to unscrupulous people selling LMIAs.”

LMIA program ‘intrinsically exploitative’

Several experts told CBC/IJF that the fixes won’t fix the fundamental problem with Canada’s LMIA system.

That’s because the program is “intrinsically exploitative,” says John No, an employment lawyer and interim clinical director at Parkdale Community Legal Services in Toronto.

“This is essentially indentured servitude,” he said.

Similarly to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program where LMIAs are issued”breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” Released by UN special rapporteur Tomoya Obokata. A report in August Following his visit to Canada in 2023.

No said foreign nationals were “stuck” because the LMIA tied a worker to a specific employer.

As a result, wages are suppressed and workers have no freedom of movement between employers, says No.

“This… creates two categories of people. There(are) people who are free to shop for good working conditions, and there are people who are not allowed to do so.”

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