Brampton immigration firm’s guilty plea comes as PCs push stricter legislation to deal with fraud

In violation of section 15.1 of the Ontario Immigration Act which forbids the falsification of immigration applications, a Brampton-based firm has been fined and convicted for wilfully breaking the law. 

The conviction came just two weeks after tough new legislation introduced by the PC government cleared first reading inside Queen’s Park, as MPPs across Ontario move to crack down on a sector that has been riddled with problems for decades.

Two clients who sought a visa under the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program (OINP) and Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream were represented by Gandhi Immigration Limited, and the firm was eventually fined $20,000 for each instance of misrepresentation.

“The company was paid for its services and the company’s director, who handled the two applications, was a member in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants,” Ontario’s labour ministry detailed in a press release announcing the conviction in June.

“For both applications, the director altered job letters provided by the applicants to reflect job duties they did not perform, but that met the OINP criteria.”

The exploitation of immigrants by governments in Canada and consultants has long been an issue that advocates in Brampton have addressed.

(Muhammad Hamza/The Pointer)

Gandhi Immigration Ltd, located at 101-111 Queen St. East in Brampton, was convicted on June 6.

Those in charge of the firm pleaded guilty, after evidence showed false job experience was added in documents for two applicants on two separate occasions, in October 2022 and March of 2023, to meet the immigration criteria under the specific programs. Both applications were later refused.

Gandhi Immigration was fined a total of $40,000 by the Toronto Provincial Offences Court. A 25 percent victim surcharge fine was also imposed under the Provincial Offences Act.  

In an email response to The Pointer, Ravinder Gandhi, the Director of Gandhi Immigration who according to the Attorney General handled the cases and altered the job letters, said his firm has since implemented guardrails to prevent similar conduct in the future.

"With respect to the Ontario government press release you have referred to, we are fully aware of the statement made in that communication," Gandhi wrote.

He emphasized that although his firm pleaded guilty and has been fined, the personal charges against himself were eventually withdrawn. 

Gandhi said “a mandatory two-tier review system for all documents prior to submission is now in place; retaining an external compliance consultant to audit past and future files for transparency and assurance, and new protocols ensure all information submitted matches only what is truthfully provided by the client, with no alterations permitted under any circumstances." 

Fraudulent applications have long been a problem in Canada’s booming immigration consulting sector.

A detailed report by the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA) titled “The State of Immigration Fraud in Canada” outlines several common types of immigration fraud in Canada.

These include:

• Misrepresentation — Any false statement, omission, or misleading information provided to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), including fabricating events to bolster an application in hopes that it will bring a positive response or “Document fraud”, including forging employment contracts, letter of acceptance from designated learning institutions, or civil registry documents that indicate a family nexus. The consequences lead to not only the refusal of the application but also a five-year ban from entering Canada.
• Unauthorized Representatives — This term is also used for “ghost-consultants” who operate without credentials in or outside Canada. They prepare applications, give advice to their unsuspecting clients, is often received as legal advice and submit applications on behalf of those clients. Ghost consultants give inaccurate and misleading information, promote unethical and misrepresentative techniques to acquire a positive response on applications and charge fees that are well above the commonly charged legal fees of authorized representatives.
• Labour Exploitation and LMIA Abuse — In this Labour Market Impact Assesment (LMIA) process, the employers need to demonstrate to the immigration department that no qualified Canadian citizens or permanent residents are available for the position, and this is the point where immigration consultants take advantage of foreign workers, where they are lured with fake job offers and later trapping them in exploitative conditions. The LMIA and labour exploitation are proportional to each other, where employers or intermediaries falsely advertise positions or fabricate job offers, and promise pathways to permanent residency in Canada. In many cases, workers arrive to find that the promised job does not exist or differs significantly from what was initially described, leaving them vulnerable and without legal recourse or fear of even using a legal recourse.     
• Student Visa Fraud — This type of fraud is quite complex because in the student visa stream, not every student applies with the actual intention to study in Canada; some go for asylum applications, or take this as an opportunity to enter Canada, which puts a strain on Canada’s immigration, judicial and broader enforcement, which already dealing with high volume applications. For instance, 50,000 students were reported as “no-shows” in spring 2024 at their designated learning institutions. 11 Coupled with the more than 14,000 students that filed asylum claims in the first nine months of 2024. This flaw in the immigration system also provides an opportunity for immigration consultants to grab a hefty chunk of money from vulnerable individuals for fraudulent and misleading services.
• Marriage Fraud — While marrying a foreign national, the immigration department has advised caution for Canadians, as sometimes a foreign national might dupe a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident into thinking that their relationship is genuine and convince them to sponsor. It can be perceived in an alternative way, where both individuals knowingly marry for immigration purposes, referred to as a “marriage of convenience.” This undermines public trust in Canadian institutions and creates doubt about genuine relationships involving immigrants.  

Justin Trudeau at a 2019 campaign rally in Peel. Liberal governments under his leadership have been criticized for not doing enough to safeguard newcomers that wanted to come into Canada, where many immigration consultants have operated in a wild west system.

(The Pointer files)   

In the first six months of 2024 alone, IRCC refused over 52,000 temporary resident applications due to misrepresentation; compared to 2023 when 46,000 temporary resident files were rejected, and 2022 when  26,000 were denied.

The report highlights a troubling pattern. 

“There are an increasing number of bad actors that seek to exploit the immigration system for gain, and IRCC and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) integrity efforts are detecting more misrepresentation.”

In November, David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, arrived at City Hall in Brampton, where he called immigration consultants who commit fraud, “scumbags”. He urged the introduction of legislation that will protect immigrants and newcomers.

Under the tabled legislation he spearheaded, consultants would be required to have a written contract with OINP applicants in place, provide proof of their registration and licence, inform applicants about their OINP file and give them access so they can track their immigration application themselves.

Tougher penalties for violations would also be introduced, including a minimum of a three-year ban to a maximum of ten years for anyone involved in fraud, and a lifetime ban for serious offences like human trafficking or withholding passports.

The pending legislation would strengthen the provincial government’s authority to issue fines for fraud, including misrepresentation in the OINP file, by increasing the fines for both dishonest consultants and employers from $2,000 to $10,000.

“Like so many Canadians whose parents or grandparents came here for a better life, immigrants come to this province to work hard, support their families, and contribute to a stronger Ontario,” Piccini said during a press conference in Brampton late last year.

“Struggling to navigate a confusing federal immigration system, many newcomers put their trust in immigration representatives – many of whom are diligent and honest, but a few bad actors exploit vulnerable newcomers, jeopardizing their immigration status and scamming them out of tens of thousands of dollars. We will soon introduce legislation to enforce standards for immigration representatives using Ontario’s immigration nominee program and crack down on fraud.”

The proposed legislation, Bill 30, passed its first reading at Queen’s Park on May 28 and is also known as the “Working for Workers Seven Act.” If it clears the remaining legislative process (with a powerful PC majority government, its passage is effectively a formality) it will introduce new amendments in the Ontario Immigration Act 2015, which grant authorities more powers to crack down on fraudulent consultants.  

Schedule 5 of the proposed law states, “The Schedule amends the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015 to provide that, when carrying out an inspection, an inspector may require a person to attend an in-person interview separate and apart from other persons. The regulation-making powers are also amended to permit certain regulation-making powers to be delegated from the Lieutenant Governor in Council to the Minister.”

The case against Gandhi Immigration, based in Brampton, involving falsified job letters created to meet necessary criteria under a specific immigration program, shows how legitimate candidates are often disadvantaged, competing against files that include fraudulent information, prepared by consultants who violate the rules. 

Barbara Jo Caruso, Co-President of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA) and former Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s national immigration section, told The Pointer that firms found guilty of misconduct should have their licence automatically suspended. The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), which regulates immigration and citizenship consultants “in the public interest” to protect clients, deals with a high volume of complaints.

"So this was a provincial—the $40,000 fine was a criminal prosecution, and it has nothing to do with the regulator and the college," Jo Caruso explained.

"If there's a finding of criminal fault, then you should automatically be suspended and your licence suspended while you know your disciplinary hearing takes place. But the college is just overwhelmed with complaints, and I don't think they are able to adjudicate on these matters quickly enough."

Barbara Jo Caruso, co-president of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, says there is a need for stronger regulatory action and automatic licence suspension for firms found guilty of immigration misconduct.

(Supplied)

Jo Caruso outlined how the current system creates gaps. 

"The college would have to give notice to the consultant that it's come to their attention that he's been charged and he's in violation of the code of conduct, and you know, they're going to investigate and potentially discipline him—I know it's mind-boggling. How is this protecting the public? Right?"

She said some firms can appear to be in good standing, while complaints or allegations pile up, or, in some cases, never come forward.

"That's one of the problems—that the regulator is overwhelmed with complaints and allegations, and their process for discipline is extremely slow," she said.

When the PCs floated their new legislation late last year, words were directed at the federal government for the lack of oversight within the immigration consulting space.

"The federal government’s negligence and mismanagement of our immigration system has led to scammers exploiting newcomers,” Graham McGregor, the Brampton North MPP and Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, said when his party was piecing together the proposed new provincial legislation.

“Minister Piccini’s decision to integrate immigration protections into the Workers for Workers Act will be a crucial step in addressing immigration scams and combating fraudulent immigration representatives who take advantage of immigrants coming to our province. By introducing these measures, we are ensuring that people who choose to make Ontario their home can do so with dignity and without fear of being taken advantage of."

The CICC, which regulates immigration consultants, is largely governed by the federal College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act. 

Under the Act, “A licensee must uphold the standards of the profession and perform their professional obligations honourably and with integrity; A licensee must not engage in conduct that is likely to discredit the profession or jeopardize the public’s confidence and trust in the profession; A licensee must demonstrate law-abidance through compliance with all applicable legislation, including the Act and any regulations and by-laws made under the Act.”

Those who work in the system have questioned the enforcement of the federal Act and Ottawa’s commitment to resources needed to provide proper investigative authority, decision making in the disciplinary process and, ultimately, the necessary follow through to ensure bad actors are properly dealt with. 

If the new provincial legislation passes, it will close some of the gaps that have been identified. 

Jo Caruso said the current system does little to safeguard individuals while allegations come forward against particular immigration consultants, but can’t be dealt with in a timeframe that would better protect the public. 

"And that leaves the consultant to carry on without any suspension or discipline, while the college digs through the literally hundreds of complaints that they receive. But if you go to that (college) website, the thing that to me is wrong about the college and their lack of regulation is that you can't even find on the Gandhi Immigration website who the regulated consultant is; they just say that they are regulated, but they don't say who they are.”

That’s not how her own industry works. 

“If you go to a law firm's website, the lawyers are plainly listed, and you can see the lawyers' credentials, their years of experience, their education, if they've written in the area, if they've won any awards, and their profiles are all on the website. But when you go to this website, it just says that they're a reputable, fully online immigration consulting firm and that they're managed by a dedicated team of licensed, regulated immigration consultants in good standing."

The PCs are promising to close many of the gaps with the legislation currently working its way through passage at Queen’s Park.

“As part of its efforts to combat immigration scams, the government is introducing new compliance and enforcement related measures for the OINP under the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015 (the Act),” the provincial government highlighted. 

“This includes authority to require greater accountability and transparency between immigration representatives, employers and newcomers who are applying to the program. This could include requiring representatives to have a written contract with OINP applicants, requiring representatives to provide proof of their registration or licence.” 

The new legislation would also crack down on any misrepresentation to the OINP by consultants and would allow provincial authorities to go after them for counseling an applicant to bend the rules.

The proposed new provincial legislation was described as  “much-needed and long-overdue” by Sara Asalya, executive director of Toronto’s Newcomer Women’s Services. “By establishing stronger regulations and a robust compliance regime, this proposed legislation has the potential to protect immigrants from exploitation and foster a more just and equitable immigration system that respects and values the contributions of newcomers.”

Nick Simone, the president and CEO of Pace Law, echoed her words.

"Foreign workers are essential to Canada’s economy, driving growth and filling critical labour shortages. Integrating immigration protections into the Workers for Workers Act is a commendable initiative by Ontario leaders. Safeguarding foreign workers and employers from unscrupulous immigration practices not only protects workers but also supports businesses and maintains the integrity of Ontario’s immigration system."

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