The AIPP or the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program is an immigration program which permits the employers located in Canada’s Atlantic provinces ( New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) to recruit foreign nationals for specific jobs that they could not fill locally. The aim of this program is to invite about 7,000 or more new immigrants along with their families to the region by the year 2021 to fill in the gaps in the labor market.
The Program’s Vulnerability to Fraud
The AIPP is driven by the employers, wherein the applicants who arrive in Canada should have a job offer from a designated and reputed employer along with an individualized settlement plan. Once the designated employer identifies a candidate who matches their employment requirements as well as the criteria of the program, that employer will have to first offer a job to the individual.
Under this program, the employers need not go through the common process of getting a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). There is very less Government supervision, and the employers deal directly with the prospective employees/immigrants. This aspect of the AIPP is supposed to be beneficial for employers as well as prospective immigrants. But, unintentionally, it has made the AIPP quite vulnerable to fraud.
Employers who have to get a job vacancy filled immediately, have access to temporary work permits which enables the prospective candidate to come to Canada along with their family at the earliest.
In order to get this work permit, the candidates will require:
- a valid and legal job offer;
- a letter from the specific province; and
- a commitment that they will be applying for permanent residence within a period of 90 days from the temporary work permit application.
This program also has very low requirements pertaining to language as well as education for applicants, then most of the immigration programs for Canada.
Canadian Job Scams Details
There have been numerous media reports pertaining to a few recruiters charging about Can$170,000 to get fake jobs along with permanent residency for the immigrants, specifically from Asia.
In such a scheme, the Canadian employers are being paid to hire an immigrant for either no pay or to even forge their payroll. The immigrants are supposed to just pay the fee, post which they can work for a period of six months without pay or even created fraudulent tax records for clients who decide not to work at the specific job. The payments are done in cash which ensures that the illegal scheme cannot be detected. Another region of Canada, known as the Saskatchewan province, has become the target of immigration fraud via employment.
Keeping in mind these recent activities as per the reports, one should be quite cautious regarding these illegal employment schemes, wherein one pays for a job due to the illegality.