Latest news with #LMIA
Time Business News
3 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
SEP Immigration: For People Trying to Build Their Lives in Canada
Immigration isn't just about forms and checklists. It's about people trying to figure out what's next—and how to get there without making a mistake they can't fix. SEP Immigration, a small Toronto-based agency, works with those in that exact spot. They're not trying to be everywhere at once. They're trying to be helpful where it counts. You won't find a ticket system or automated replies here. Just people answering questions and sorting through problems that often feel much bigger than they look on paper. Some people call in thinking they've already done everything right, like the man who'd been in Canada for over five years and submitted a PR card renewal on his own. He didn't think twice until a letter from IRCC showed up asking for proof of residency—proof he hadn't included. It turns out travel dates and tax filings didn't quite match. That's when he found SEP. They went over his timeline, pointed out gaps, and gathered the records needed to fill them. There were spreadsheets, scanned receipts, old leases—anything that could help. He got his card renewed, but said later that without their help, he would've assumed the request meant his status was already lost. It's the kind of case that's more common than most people expect. Many don't even realize that to renew a PR card in Canada, you still need to prove you've met the rules. The assumption that it's automatic is what catches people off guard. One of the more misunderstood parts of Canada's immigration system involves the LMIA—short for Labour Market Impact Assessment. It sounds technical, and it is, but it can make or break a job offer for someone outside the country. Not long ago, SEP Immigration worked with a welder from Eastern Europe and a company in Alberta that wanted to hire him. The employer had no experience with immigration paperwork. SEP stepped in, explained what was needed, and helped them get through each step—posting the job, tracking applicants, documenting the offer. The LMIA was approved, and the welder arrived a few months later. The job got filled, and the employer didn't lose weeks chasing unclear instructions. People looking into LMIA applications in Canada often don't realize how specific the documentation needs to be. It's not impossible. It just needs to be done right. One woman, a student from the Caribbean, came to SEP after she'd already been refused a postgraduate work permit. Her study permit had expired by the time she found out. She hadn't included key documents, and by the time the letter arrived, it looked like she was out of options. She was scared—rightly so. The idea of leaving a life behind because of one missing form is heavy. SEP reviewed her timeline and helped draft a reconsideration letter. It wasn't a guaranteed fix, but it gave her a real shot. And that was better than packing bags and heading for the airport with no plan. That kind of case isn't rare. People miss things, deadlines pass, and confusion builds quickly. SEP doesn't overpromise. But they do read everything, line by line, and offer next steps that make sense based on what's actually possible. The people who turn to SEP Immigration aren't asking for miracles. They just want someone to explain what's going on and help them avoid mistakes. SEP's clients often say the same thing—they appreciate the straight talk. If an application looks weak, they're told exactly that. No guessing. No vague encouragement. Just facts. There's also no confusion about money. Fees are explained before anything moves forward. No one's left trying to understand hidden charges or unexpected extras. Most of SEP Immigration's work is done online these days. And that's opened the door to people living far from their office—clients in the Gulf, students in remote parts of Canada, caregivers working in households where getting to a meeting would mean losing hours of pay. The process still starts the same way: a consultation, a review of documents, and a decision about what to do next. Some people are just checking if they're eligible for something. Others are already in the middle of a crisis, trying to stop a refusal or salvage an expiring status. The team treats both the same. There's no distinction made between 'big' and 'small' cases. For someone who might have to leave Canada, every case is big. It's not always about winning or losing a case. Sometimes, the first step is just plainly hearing what the options are—and how much risk each one carries. SEP doesn't pretend every client will get approved. But they do take the time to walk through possible outcomes, without dressing them up. They've worked with skilled workers, refugee claimants, couples trying to sponsor one another, and people who've already been refused once (or more). The common thread isn't just the paperwork. It's the uncertainty. And SEP works in that space, helping people figure out what's next and how to make decisions they can live with. Immigration isn't simple. It's full of rules that don't always make sense until someone breaks them. SEP Immigration isn't trying to sell dreams. They work case by case, looking at what's on paper, what's missing, and what still might be possible. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
CBC
03-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
B.C. immigration consultant discovers forged foreign worker documents — with her name on them
Social Sharing Twice in two weeks, Surrey, B.C., immigration consultant Neera Agnihotri discovered her firm was listed on employment documents for foreign workers supposedly bound for B.C. The only problem: she had never heard of any of the prospective workers or the businesses wanting to hire them. "I was like, 'No, this is not our client,'" Agnihotri says, reviewing the paperwork and highlighting signs of forgery. "You can see a little bit of alteration in the font," Agnihotri points out on one. On the other, there's a typo on the name of her firm, Agnihotri Immigration Consulting Inc. The documents were forged Labour Market Impact Assessments, or LMIAs. Employers typically receive the documents from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) if they want to hire a foreign worker. They're meant to show that a foreign worker is needed to fill a specific job. LMIA-supported positions can also increase the worker's chances of becoming permanent residents in Canada. Workers also need to demonstrate they have requisite skills and language proficiency before they receive a work permit from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). But in recent years, fraudsters have used the documents to prey on foreign nationals who are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for them under the false promise they'll legally be allowed to live and work in Canada. "There are scammers, numerous scammers out there in the world, who are making these fake LMIAs and selling them to unsuspecting workers who have this glimmer of hope that they might be able to get a job in Canada," said Cassandra Fultz, an Ontario-based immigration consultant. Previous CBC investigations have uncovered scammers selling fraudulent LMIAs for up to $45,000. "The problem is, when someone is desperate, when someone really wants that job or that ability to work in Canada, they're willing to believe it," said Fultz. WATCH | Scammers selling fraudulent worker documents to foreign nationals: Surrey immigration consultant raises concerns over fraudulent documents 2 days ago Duration 2:28 A Surrey immigration consultant has raised concerns after discovering her firm was listed in fraudulent employment documents known as Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs). These documents are required by businesses seeking to hire foreign workers and must be obtained from the federal government. However, as Jon Hernandez reports, scammers are selling counterfeit documents to foreign nationals, falsely promising them the chance to live and work in Canada. Forged LMIA In Agnihotri's case, the LMIAs were brought to her attention by neighbouring firms that received them on behalf of the worker in March. Her firm, Agnihotri Immigration Consulting Inc., was unwittingly listed as a third-party representative on behalf of the employers, an Okanagan construction company and an Abbotsford trucking business — neither of which she had ever heard of. Both businesses denied any knowledge of the forged LMIA. CBC News has reviewed the documents which Agnihotri has submitted to ESDC for investigation. Agnihotri suspects previous legitimate LMIAs were replicated by a bad actor and are now being used as a template for fake documents. She fears there could be more forged documents with her company's name on them circulating without her knowledge. "It's quite concerning, because I've only seen two, and I'm one individual, one company," said Agnihotri. "We don't know how vastly this is happening." ESDC told CBC News that it does not publicly release figures on LMIA fraud. Growing challenges According to the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), any instance where a prospective employee is asked to pay for an LMIA is considered fraud. The organization, which represents licensed consultants, says it's fighting "unauthorized practitioners" who pose as licensees and try to sell immigration documents. "In a series of recent enforcement blitzes, we have shut down more than 5,000 web pages and social media pages advertising [unauthorized practitioners]," said an ESDC spokesperson in a statement. WATCH | Foreign workers targets of costly schemes: Temporary foreign workers targeted by costly online immigration schemes 6 months ago Duration 7:15 As Canada tightens its path to permanent residency, more immigration schemes are appearing online, offering fake jobs to foreign workers in exchange for up to $45,000. Cassandra Fultz, a registered consultant at Toronto's Doherty Fultz Immigration in Toronto, says her office routinely gets calls and emails from people asking if their LMIA documents are real or fake. "It's never real," said Fultz. "Some of them look pretty good, they have a lot of the details correct, but some are just a little bit off. And some of them look totally ridiculous." "People are forking out hundreds, and literally thousands of dollars for these LMIAs, and they're not real. They're just out that money," said Fultz. Fultz says scammers will often impersonate representatives from legitimate firms, so she is calling on Ottawa to step in and investigate fraud claims brought forward by immigration consultants who risk losing credibility.
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Business Standard
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Canada work permit delays: What's happening to thousands of migrants?
Thousands of migrant workers in Canada, including Indian nationals, are stuck in a legal vacuum after losing their work permits due to growing delays in the paperwork renewal process. Without valid permits, they are unable to work or access healthcare, despite paying taxes and having arrived in the country legally. One of them is Devi Acharya, who moved from India to British Columbia in October 2022 with her husband and son. She was employed in housekeeping at Prince Rupert's Highliner Hotel, a job she said she enjoyed. The family recently bought a house. But after applying for a new labour market impact assessment (LMIA) in September, they received no response. As a result, their work permits expired. They now live in Canada without work authorisation and no access to provincial health insurance. In March, Acharya suffered a miscarriage. She did not go to the hospital because she couldn't afford another medical bill. 'If I got medical attention on time, maybe we could have saved the baby,' she told Reuters. Her son Navdev, now five, is also unable to attend school. 'Two years before we were dreaming of making Canada home,' she said. 'And now it's shattering.' Her case is just one among many. What is driving the crisis? The delays stem from both stricter immigration rules and growing political pressure to reduce the number of temporary residents, said Ravi Jain, a Canada-based immigration attorney and member of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA). 'The government brought in much stricter rules to stem the number of temporary residents in general. About 10 years ago, there were 300,000 temporary residents and today there are over 3 million,' Jain told Business Standard. 'This fairly dramatic increase has led to a public backlash which political parties are responding to leading up to the federal action taking place shortly.' Darshan Maharaja, a Canada-based immigration analyst, told Business Standard that visa processing has not kept up with demand. 'At one point, it was reported that there were 2.4 million pending applications. As of December last year, LMIA applications received in March were being processed,' he said. 'A lot of political pressure has built up on the immigration policy, which required the government to cut down the numbers in different kinds of visa policies such as international students and foreign workers. In some cases, existing work permits are not being renewed.' Why are the backlogs growing? According to Jain, backlogs are largely due to volume. 'We see significant numbers of foreign nationals who wish to stay in Canada. Many were duped by non-lawyer immigration consultants who promised a guaranteed pathway from study permits to work permits to permanent residence.' He warned migrants against relying on unauthorised consultants. 'If migrants are at risk of losing their legal status, they should consult a proper lawyer. All members of our association, including myself, must be a lawyer. Be wary of consultants who refer to themselves as lawyers but are not.' Maharaja added, '??If there is a risk of losing legal status, migrants would be well advised to take recourse to legal means only to extend their stay in Canada, as otherwise they may be unable to secure a visa in the future.' With elections underway in Canada, Maharaja said there has been no announcement of any temporary relief or solution. Impact on employers Employers are also affected by the uncertainty, according to Jain. 'Employers are quite concerned about keeping employees they have come to rely on and this is very difficult for them,' he said.
CBC
21-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
WestJet considers hiring temporary foreign workers to solve pilot shortage
Calgary-based WestJet is considering whether to use temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to fly its planes. In a statement, spokesperson Julia Kaiser told CBC News the airline is exploring the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) process as one of "multiple avenues" to meet a shortage of WestJet Encore captains. The LMIA is essentially a piece of paperwork that a business needs to take part in the federal TFW program, to prove that there are no local workers available to take a job. The union representing pilots at the airline says it wasn't consulted by either the WestJet or the federal government about the move. "This application should never have been made," said Capt. Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Canada. WestJet has already received federal approval to hire through the TFW program, the union said. Neither the airline nor Employment and Social Development Canada have confirmed those details to CBC News. Perry said the union has no problems with permanent immigration or with hiring newcomers, but objects to the airline's use of the TFW program in particular. If WestJet has a problem attracting enough pilots, he said, it should work on improving its collective agreement, rather than looking abroad for a source of temporary labour. 'Short-circuiting' the hiring process Aviation expert John Gradek said there is a pilot shortage both in Canada and around the world. It stems from the COVID-19 pandemic when the whole industry was put on hold, he said. In his view, the TFW program is not the way for the airline to address its staffing issues. "WestJet is trying to short-circuit the process of hiring Canadian pilots," said Gradek, who is a faculty lecturer in aviation management at McGill University. "This is not the way we basically look at hiring high-quality, good-paying, very demanding pilot jobs in Canada." So far, WestJet says it has not yet hired any workers through the TFW program. Perry said he is also frustrated the union has not received any overtures from the federal government. If WestJet hopes to use the federal TFW program, which is intended for instances where no domestic workers are available, Perry said he thinks a government worker should invite the union to weigh in about whether this is the case. "In our view, our collective bargaining rights have been absolutely undermined in this case by the government," said Perry. In response to questions from CBC News, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada said it couldn't speak to the situation for privacy reasons. The spokesperson pointed to an online database
