By Muhannad Samara, RCIC

For ACIC Inc.

Feb 1, 2019

Atlantic Canadian provinces, such as Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have all entered into agreements with the Federal government of Canada where locally established employers are permitted to recruit international workers under three different sub categories of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot programme.

Employers are expected to demonstrate a genuine need for the foreign worker and are required to only engage a foreign national for the purpose of filling in a vacancy. Those programmes give candidates the ability to submit an application for Permanent residence Status in Canada without the need for a Labor Market Impact Assessment by Canada’s ESDC.

These programmes are being abused by some Canadian Employers who have been “designated” by the province. A job offer made to a foreign national is made in exchange for sums that go up to Twenty or in some cases Thirty thousand dollars.

Some employers who were granted allocations to bring in large numbers of employees, are contracting with local immigration practitioners who in turn charge foreign nationals the aforementioned large sums in exchange for a job offer that will facilitate Permanent Residence Status.

Provinces are advised to implement robust follow up protocols to ensure that the job offers being made through this program actually end up in employment. Consequences of foreign nationals coming in to Canada on such bogus offers are dire. Provinces are advised to revise their Employer Designation procedures to assess the actual numbers needed by each employer, in stead of giving an approval to bring in 30 or 40 employees at a time.

Provinces are advised to test the employers they have designated by gradually granting them the number of vacancies they claim they need.