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LMIA fraud is massive. As with pretty much everything related to our immigration system. Darshan Maharaja posts often about these kinds of things - https://twi

by lm411 3y ago

LMIA fraud is massive. As with pretty much everything related to our immigration system. Darshan Maharaja posts often about these kinds of things - https://twitter.com/theophanesrex https://twitter.com/theophanesrex. Smart guy all around. I'd be amazed if even 30% of visa and PR applications to Canada are legitimate and free of fraud. Not even mentioning asylum seekers and refugees. My wife immigrated to Canada just before Covid through spousal PR sponsorship. Although I'm an honest guy, with so much fraud, I kind of feel like an idiot for wasting so much time and money going through the proper channels when everyone else is abusing the system. Regardless, with the state of this country right now, we are planning to leave again. The reasons we moved to Canada to begin with are simply not the reality of 2024 Canada. It has been a massive drop in quality of life for us.

barbazoo 3y ago
> I'd be amazed if even 30% of visa and PR applications to Canada are legitimate and free of fraud. This includes a whole lot of immigration that has nothing to do with the LMIA system. What other fraud is there specifically?
- lm411 3y ago
  Misrepresentation, marriage fraud, fake documentation (e.g. qualifications), fake schools / colleges, fake family members, fake businesses for LMIA, you name it. It's all happening. Everyone is gaming the system. With such a sheer number of applications we simply don't have the capacity to do much verification. In many cases, applicants going through a broker don't even know they are committing the fraud.
  - barbazoo 3y ago
    > Misrepresentation, marriage fraud, fake documentation (e.g. qualifications), fake schools / colleges, fake family members, fake businesses for LMIA, you name it. It's all happening. Everyone is gaming the system. Having gone through the system, TFW->Provincial nomination->PR->Citizen, I don't know, how much of that is actually happening in large enough numbers to have a negative effect. Obviously some game the system but I didn't and neither did many others. It's easy to claim, very hard to back up with data. > With such a sheer number of applications we simply don't have the capacity to do much verification. Do you have a source of that? In my experience it just leads to longer processing times, not being waived through.
    - lm411 3y ago
      It's hard to backup with data since the IRCC doesn't release any useful information publicly. So, yes, mostly anecdotal. Also, people committing fraud rarely come out and admit it if they are not caught. So how would we know? I've personally seen quite a few cases of marriage and family related fraud. I've been to fake weddings for immigration purposes. I personally know people that have assumed deceased family member's names for the same reason. Some countries have very bad paperwork so it's not difficult to fake these things and nearly impossible for IRCC to confirm. I've straight up been given advice that would be fraud by an IRCC approved immigration lawyer. Just search on Google "canada immigration fraud", or any other similar term and you will see countless cases where people have gotten caught. I seriously doubt we are catching even a tiny percentage of the fraud - but obviously numbers on this are impossible to know. So anecdotes are about all we can get. The case of the 700 Indian Students comes to mind - https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-says-it-won-t-deport-international-students-who-are-victims-of-immigration-fraud-1.6441274 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-says-it-won-t-deport-inter... Note that these "students" were not deported, which only encourages others. It's common for foreign (out of Canada) immigration consultants to "guarantee" visa's to their customers. Look around the immigration forums and services available online. Clear and rampant fraud. We have immigration consultants running "colleges" out of the same strip mall as their immigration office. As I wrote above, I'd recommend checking out Darshan Maharaja's X feed as he follows these things much closer than myself, if you have interest - https://twitter.com/TheophanesRex https://twitter.com/TheophanesRex. > Do you have a source of that? In my experience it just leads to longer processing times, not being waived through. No. But with a backlog of 2.2 million applications and a government order to eliminate the backlog it's hard to believe it's not happening.

by lm411 3y ago

barbazoo 3y ago

> I'd be amazed if even 30% of visa and PR applications to Canada are legitimate and free of fraud. This includes a whole lot of immigration that has nothing to do with the LMIA system. What other fraud is there specifically?

lm411 3y ago
Misrepresentation, marriage fraud, fake documentation (e.g. qualifications), fake schools / colleges, fake family members, fake businesses for LMIA, you name it. It's all happening. Everyone is gaming the system. With such a sheer number of applications we simply don't have the capacity to do much verification. In many cases, applicants going through a broker don't even know they are committing the fraud.
- barbazoo 3y ago
  > Misrepresentation, marriage fraud, fake documentation (e.g. qualifications), fake schools / colleges, fake family members, fake businesses for LMIA, you name it. It's all happening. Everyone is gaming the system. Having gone through the system, TFW->Provincial nomination->PR->Citizen, I don't know, how much of that is actually happening in large enough numbers to have a negative effect. Obviously some game the system but I didn't and neither did many others. It's easy to claim, very hard to back up with data. > With such a sheer number of applications we simply don't have the capacity to do much verification. Do you have a source of that? In my experience it just leads to longer processing times, not being waived through.
  - lm411 3y ago
    It's hard to backup with data since the IRCC doesn't release any useful information publicly. So, yes, mostly anecdotal. Also, people committing fraud rarely come out and admit it if they are not caught. So how would we know? I've personally seen quite a few cases of marriage and family related fraud. I've been to fake weddings for immigration purposes. I personally know people that have assumed deceased family member's names for the same reason. Some countries have very bad paperwork so it's not difficult to fake these things and nearly impossible for IRCC to confirm. I've straight up been given advice that would be fraud by an IRCC approved immigration lawyer. Just search on Google "canada immigration fraud", or any other similar term and you will see countless cases where people have gotten caught. I seriously doubt we are catching even a tiny percentage of the fraud - but obviously numbers on this are impossible to know. So anecdotes are about all we can get. The case of the 700 Indian Students comes to mind - https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-says-it-won-t-deport-international-students-who-are-victims-of-immigration-fraud-1.6441274 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-says-it-won-t-deport-inter... Note that these "students" were not deported, which only encourages others. It's common for foreign (out of Canada) immigration consultants to "guarantee" visa's to their customers. Look around the immigration forums and services available online. Clear and rampant fraud. We have immigration consultants running "colleges" out of the same strip mall as their immigration office. As I wrote above, I'd recommend checking out Darshan Maharaja's X feed as he follows these things much closer than myself, if you have interest - https://twitter.com/TheophanesRex https://twitter.com/TheophanesRex. > Do you have a source of that? In my experience it just leads to longer processing times, not being waived through. No. But with a backlog of 2.2 million applications and a government order to eliminate the backlog it's hard to believe it's not happening.