Immigration Fraud: The Work Permit That Was Never Filed
How a routine request exposed a scam designed to remain hidden forever
Immigration has always attracted fraudsters, and as Canada's immigration process has grown more complex, so has the number of people looking to exploit it. The variety of visa and immigration fraud schemes is staggering. Scammers glue homemade Canadian visas into passports, sell fictitious LMIAs, guarantee employment in Canada, produce fake IELTS certificates, and much more.
Over the years, people have sent us scans of suspicious documents, asking us to verify their authenticity. Our collection now numbers in the thousands of specimens, including:
- Work permits
- LMIAs
- Visas
- Immigration officer ID cards
- Government fee receipts
- IELTS certificates
- Diplomatic letters
- Employer guarantees and job offers
- Airline tickets to Canada
- PR cards and PR status confirmation notices
- Provincial nomination certificates
Every single one of them – fake.
The case described below is unique in its own way. Had the victim not been unusually thorough, he would never have discovered that he had been defrauded. Every other fraud scheme we have encountered eventually leads to a moment of reckoning: the victim tries to board a flight with a forged visa pasted into their passport, or attempts to file a work permit application with a counterfeit LMIA, and the truth comes out. But not this time.
The Refusal
Alex (the name has been changed, but every fact in this story is real) came to us after receiving a refusal on his work permit application.
What does a sensible, determined person do when they receive a refusal? They look into the reasons to understand what went wrong and how the situation might be corrected. And to understand those reasons, you need to request an extract from your visa file – what is known as GCMS notes.
That is exactly why Alex contacted us. Under Canadian law, GCMS notes can only be requested by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or by someone who is physically present in Canada. Alex had been refused a work permit, could not travel to Canada, and was neither a citizen nor a permanent resident.
The GCMS Request
To order GCMS notes, certain information, a signed authorization, and a fee payment are required. All of this was arranged, and we submitted the request for the visa file extract relating to Alex's refused application. At this point, we knew nothing about Alex, his application, or how it had been filed.
Some time later, the immigration authorities came back with an additional inquiry. They asked us to provide, on top of the information already submitted, the date the application was filed, the office to which it was submitted, and Alex's UCI. A UCI – Unique Client Identifier – is a number that immigration authorities assign to every person who files a visa or permanent residence application.
We forwarded the question to Alex. He responded promptly with everything needed, including his UCI – which appears on the refusal letter alongside the file number. The information was sent to the immigration authorities.
And then things took a very unexpected turn.
The Fraud Uncovered
The immigration authorities informed us that they could not fulfill our request because the UCI number Alex had provided belonged to an entirely different person.
This required a much more detailed conversation with Alex, from which the full picture gradually emerged – a simple but remarkably effective scheme by which he had been deceived.
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The Perfect Scam
It turned out that to file his work permit application, Alex had turned to an agency in Ukraine that specialized in exactly this type of service.
The agency agreed to help, explained the complexity of the process, and did not even make any promises – everything looked perfectly legitimate. Had Alex known that Canada does not issue work permits simply on request, he might not have fallen for it, but this is not common knowledge.
Alex paid for the services, provided all the necessary information and documents, the application was ostensibly filed, and he settled in to wait.
Eventually, the "result" arrived – a refusal. Alex received an official-looking letter listing reasons for the denial. It was disappointing, but there it was: no work permit for Canada.
The agency, to its credit, behaved like perfect gentlemen – they promptly returned all of Alex's money without argument. Every dollar. Except for $155 in "government fees."
It was only when Alex came to us to request GCMS notes and provided the file number and UCI from that refusal letter that the immigration authorities confirmed: these identifiers had absolutely nothing to do with Alex.
The truth was devastatingly simple: the agency had collected Alex's money, and the sum total of their "work" was producing a forged refusal letter. They then returned the full amount minus $155 – which they pocketed.
One hundred and fifty-five Canadian dollars might not sound like much. But the brilliance of this scheme lies in the fact that victims are almost certain never to discover the fraud. The risk is minimal, so the operation can be repeated with 10, 100, or even 1,000 clients – and that adds up to a very substantial sum.
The agency's website is still active to this day. It was created shortly before Alex became their client, and the business was registered to a sole proprietor operating out of Ukraine.
Unlike the agency described above, the Canadian law firm Lawpoint does not defraud its clients. If you need help with a work permit, visa, or any other immigration matter, we are here to provide legitimate, professional legal assistance.