Finding a Canadian employer from abroad, and the job offers that are not real

Most of the job offers sold to workers overseas are not job offers. They are products. The only durable defence is understanding how hiring from abroad works, and that starts with a fact the sellers never mention: the great majority of Canadian employers cannot hire you, and are not trying to.

Hiring someone outside Canada is an administrative project the employer takes on, pays for and carries the compliance risk for. Employers do it when they have failed to fill a role locally, almost never in response to an unsolicited message.

Why most employers cannot hire you

In most cases an employer who wants a foreign worker needs a Labour Market Impact Assessment from Employment and Social Development Canada, and before ESDC will consider one the employer must have advertised and tried to hire in Canada.

The rules are specific. For high-wage positions the employer must conduct at least three different recruitment activities, one of them an advertisement on the Government of Canada Job Bank. For low-wage positions the employer must advertise on Job Bank, use at least two additional recruitment methods, and show efforts to reach people aged 15 to 30. Records must be kept for at least six years.

Read that as a filter. The roles genuinely open to someone overseas are roles an employer already advertised and could not fill domestically. Everything below is at the employer's own cost.

• The LMIA application and its processing fee, which ESDC states "can't be paid by nor be recovered from temporary foreign workers".
• Advertising, recruitment and the records proving it happened.
• For low-wage positions, round-trip transportation, which "mustn't be recovered from the temporary foreign workers".
• For low-wage positions, ensuring suitable and affordable housing is available and paying for private health insurance until provincial coverage applies. Neither may be recovered from you.
• A signed copy of your employment agreement, on or before your first day, and the prevailing wage for that occupation in that location.

Where those employers actually advertise

Because ESDC requires it, Job Bank is the one place employers lawfully positioned to hire from outside Canada have to post. That makes it your most useful tool, and it is free. It runs a search built for people in your position, tells foreign candidates to "only apply to jobs from employers who are recruiting international candidates", and marks those postings with an icon. Beyond that the honest list is short.

• The Job Bank search filtered to employers recruiting foreign candidates from outside Canada.
• Provincial and territorial job boards run by governments.
• Employers' own careers pages, particularly health authorities, school boards and sectors with persistent shortages.
• Regulators in your field, since for a regulated occupation licensure is usually the real obstacle.
• Recruiters licensed where they operate and paid by the employer, never by you.

Notice what is absent. No legitimate channel asks you to pay to be considered, matched or listed.

What a genuine job offer looks like

A job offer is not an enthusiastic email. IRCC defines a valid job offer for Express Entry as work that is "continuous, paid, full-time (at least 30 hours a week), not seasonal, for at least 1 year", and for the Federal Skilled Worker Program in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. A real offer also has texture.

• A named employer you can find independently, at an address and main number you obtained yourself rather than from the letter.
• A written employment agreement naming the wage, hours, duties, start date and province.
• A wage consistent with the prevailing wage for that occupation and location.
• At least one substantive interview with someone who can answer detailed questions about the work.
• A clear statement of whether an LMIA is being sought, by whom, and at whose cost.
• Nothing asked of you beyond documents, and no payment of any kind.

The opposite pattern is equally legible. A letter without an interview. Contact only through a messaging app. A free personal email domain. Urgency, a deadline, a place that will go to someone else. A request to send money to a person.

The shapes job offer fraud takes

Fraud aimed at foreign workers reuses a handful of structures. Once you can name them they are far harder to fall for.

• Selling an LMIA. IRCC removed job offer points from the Comprehensive Ranking System as a measure that "will reduce fraud by removing the incentive to illegally buy or sell labour market impact assessments". Buying one is participation in fraud.
• Placement fees charged to the worker, relabelled as documentation, training, orientation or visa handling. The label does not change what it is.
• Fabricated offer letters on copied letterhead from real companies, sometimes naming real managers.
• Impersonation of a licensed representative. A firm's name, branding and licence details are all public, and all easy to lift. This is common enough that the rule is simple: verify on the public register, never on a letterhead.
• Advance-fee patterns. The Competition Bureau's description fits most: "The scammer promises or guarantees a lot of income for little or no effort."
• Pay to be shortlisted, pay for a reference, pay for a priority slot. No such thing exists.

Two government sentences are worth carrying with you. IRCC: "No one can guarantee you a job or a visa to Canada or permanent residence." And: "Be careful if the salary of a job you are applying for seems too high to be real."

Check who you are dealing with, yourself

Do each of these independently. Never use a link, number or address supplied by the person you are checking.

1. Find the employer through your own search, open its own website, and call the main number listed there to ask for the person who contacted you.
2. Check the business appears in its province's corporate registry under the name on the letter.
3. Check IRCC's published list of employers found non-compliant, who can receive a monetary penalty, a ban from hiring temporary workers, or both.
4. If you are paying for immigration advice, confirm the person is authorised. IRCC requires a consultant to be a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants and points you to its public register. IRCC is blunt: "If they are not members in good standing, you should not use their services."
5. Search that register for the individual by name, not the company, and reach it yourself. Credentials are copied.
6. Never sign a blank form, and pay nothing into a personal account, money transfer service, prepaid card or gift card.

If a representative will not give you their full name and registration so you can check it, that refusal is your answer. A licensed representative expects to be checked.

If you are already in Canada and it has gone wrong

Most workers who arrive through an LMIA hold an employer-specific work permit, which creates real dependence. You still have rights that do not rest on your employer's goodwill. Your employer cannot take your passport or work permit, cannot make you reimburse recruitment-related fees, cannot punish you for reporting mistreatment, unsafe work or inadequate housing, and cannot deport you or change your immigration status.

If the situation is abusive, IRCC states that "You may be eligible for an open work permit for vulnerable workers if you're being abused or at risk of being abused in relation to your job in Canada." That permit lets you work for almost any employer rather than the one you came for. Abuse can also be reported anonymously to Service Canada's confidential tip line. Leaving an employer-specific job without other authorisation affects your status, so get advice first.

Can I pay someone to get me a job offer or an LMIA?

No. ESDC requires employers to confirm that neither they nor anyone recruiting for them charges or recovers recruitment fees from a temporary foreign worker, and the LMIA processing fee cannot be paid by or recovered from the worker. Anyone selling a job offer or an LMIA is proposing something unlawful.

Can a recruiter charge me a placement fee?

Not for foreign worker recruitment. Ontario, for example, prohibits anyone acting as a recruiter in connection with the employment of a foreign national from charging that person a fee for any service, good or benefit. Recruiters are paid by employers.

How do I know if an offer letter is genuine?

Verify it away from the letter. Find the employer yourself, call the main number on its own website, and ask for the person who contacted you. Check the provincial corporate registry and IRCC's list of employers found non-compliant. A genuine offer follows a real interview and asks nothing but documents.

How do I check whether a consultant is licensed?

Search the public register of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants for the individual by name, reaching it through your own search rather than a link they send you. For a lawyer or notary, check the provincial law society. IRCC says that if they are not members in good standing, you should not use their services.

I already paid someone. What now?

Stop paying, keep every message and receipt, and send no further personal or banking details. Immigration fraud can be reported to the Canada Border Services Agency Border Watch Line and employer abuse to Service Canada's tip line. Then have your file reviewed by an authorised representative.

If you have been offered a job in Canada and want it checked before you pay or sign anything, our consultant can review the offer and the person behind it. Book a consultation

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