This story is a collaboration between CBC Information and the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF).
The federal authorities will not be granting further factors towards everlasting residence to some non permanent overseas employees, lower than two months after an undercover CBC Information and Investigative Journalism Basis (IJF) investigation revealed how easy it is to buy and sell these jobs online.
On Tuesday, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller introduced that candidates to the Express Entry program will not obtain 50 or 200 further factors for working ready supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) — a transfer that one immigration lawyer described as “drastic” however anticipated.
Labour Market Affect Assessments are paperwork issued to employers by the federal authorities. It permits them to rent overseas employees if they can not discover a Canadian or a everlasting resident to fill a place.
The positions had been launched in 2014 as “a final and limited resort to fill acute labour shortages on a short lived foundation when certified Canadians will not be obtainable.”
Till now, LMIA-supported positions not solely allowed overseas nationals to work legally in Canada but additionally elevated their possibilities of turning into everlasting residents by including factors to their everlasting residency purposes.
In a press convention on Tuesday, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller introduced that jobs supported by Labour Market Affect Assessments (LMIAs) would not end in further factors for candidates in search of everlasting residency in Canada — a transfer he says will ‘take away the inducement for candidates to buy an LMIA’ and enhance ‘equity and integrity’ within the system.
The change was introduced throughout a press conference about Canada’s plans for coping with immigration and border safety points.
“This measure is anticipated to take away the inducement for candidates to buy an LMIA, leading to growing equity and integrity within the Categorical Entry system, and taking a few of the worth out of the fraud already being perpetrated within the LMIA system,” Miller informed reporters.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has not responded to a CBC Information request to make clear the timeline and particulars of the coverage change, together with whether or not it would apply to overseas employees at the moment employed in LMIA-supported positions.
Change ‘drastic’ however anticipated: lawyer
Calgary immigration lawyer Jatin Shory described the change as “drastic” however anticipated.
He mentioned he understands the push to chop again on fraud, “nevertheless it’s unlucky that every one the nice actors are those who’re going to be penalized because of actions by the unhealthy actors.”
The overseas nationals employed to work LMIA-backed jobs then obtain an extra 50 or 200 factors out of a possible 1,200 on their Comprehensive Ranking System rating, which is used to evaluate candidates for everlasting residency.
Others have applauded the change. The youth migrant advocacy group Naujawan Support Network posted on X saying the transfer “marks a victory in our wrestle for a good pathway to PR” and can cut back exploitation of migrants.
Regulated immigration marketing consultant Steven Paolasini beforehand informed CBC/IJF that this technique “wants an overhaul” and that LMIAs “shouldn’t have any direct immigration profit by any means.”
LMIA-supported positions jobs include closed work permits, which forestall non permanent overseas employees from working for different employers.
In early November, a parliamentary report advisable reassessing whether or not LMIAs ought to be closed work permits, stating that they “have the potential to extend a [temporary foreign worker’s] dependency on their employer.
That “makes employees much less prone to insist on correct working circumstances, security and contract phrases, and fewer prone to attain out for helps, as a result of they worry deportation, doable unpaid debt to recruiters and monetary damage,” the report mentioned.
Some, together with Toronto labour lawyer John No, who has represented dozens of exploited or abused non permanent overseas employees, advocate for the whole abolition of this system.
“Exploitation will occur even when we tinker with it,” he mentioned.
The one viable resolution is to grant newcomers everlasting residence upon arrival in Canada, in accordance with No.
“From day one, they might have stability, they might have standing.… It is not a radical concept. Plenty of immigrants at the moment, and previously, have include standing on arrival.”
Talking in Toronto on Worldwide Migrants Day, Syed Hussan, govt director of the Migrant Employees Alliance for Change, criticizes the federal authorities for a collection of damaged guarantees to immigrants, together with regularization for undocumented migrants and everlasting residence on arrival for care employees.
$45K for an LMIA ‘with out job’
In October, an in-depth investigation by CBC/IJF uncovered a thriving black marketplace for LMIAs. Reporters tracked dozens of online accounts overtly promoting LMIA-supported jobs and authorities documentation on websites equivalent to Kijiji and Fb Market.
An undercover journalist posing as a just lately graduated worldwide scholar spoke to a number of sellers who provided her LMIA-approved jobs for between $25,000 and $45,000. One requested if she wanted “the job with LMIA or simply LMIA with out [the] job.”
CBC/IJF discovered these immigration schemes typically got here with a alternative of a “actual” place or a “pretend” one — full with fraudulent supporting documentation, together with pay stubs and tax slips to make use of as proof of Canadian work expertise when making use of for everlasting residence.
A few of the offers included an “employer price” of $27,000 or extra, though employers are prohibited from charging foreign nationals any recruitment charges.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, charging overseas employees any cash for LMIAs is prohibited. Specialists who spoke with CBC/IJF described these presents as “outright fraud.”
Another portion of the investigation showed how one in all these immigration schemes performed out for a employee who paid tens of 1000’s of {dollars} for an LMIA — then allegedly paid his personal wages for a pretend job.
As Canada tightens its path to everlasting residency, extra immigration schemes are showing on-line, providing pretend jobs to overseas employees in trade for as much as $45,000.
Higher communication key to decreasing fraud
Shory, the immigration lawyer, argues that the true measure of whether or not this newest change in immigration coverage will successfully cut back fraud lies in how it’s offered to potential new Canadians.
“Finally, these ghost consultants, as we name them — brokers who’re abroad — are those who’re basically the primary level of contact, who get to manage the narrative,” he mentioned.
“People who find themselves weak, sufficient to be satisfied that you might want to pay for a job within Canada, what is the expectation that they are going to acknowledge that LMIAs will not assist you to enhance your factors?”
Over the previous 12 months, the federal authorities has applied a number of measures geared toward slowing immigration and decreasing the variety of non permanent overseas employees in Canada.
One such measure is the refusal to process Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) for low-wage jobs in major cities with high unemployment, besides in industries dealing with vital labour shortages.
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