“Why are you wasting your time and talent here? Canada has such a demand for people like you; and by the way how much do you make a month?”
– these were questions a Canadian immigration lawyer asked me in Sofia / Bulgaria during an informal meeting that was supposed to only focus on postage stamp exchange. The person was an immigrant from Austria in his early 60-s; his words sounded so convincing and they matched other information I already had on hand. I remembered a movie featuring a trip across western Canada with its wild rivers and, of course, the mountains. I wanted to get there and explore the place.
This is probably the typical scenario of immigrant recruitment, as it turned out my Austrian acquaintance was not the only lawyer visiting Bulgaria and the neighboring countries with the purpose of promoting Canada and interviewing potential clients.. Usually people are told that their skills are in high demand, their language abilities are extremely good and that their application for Canadian residence will be a fast and easy one. In many cases the young person interviewed is excited and accepts a contract with the law firm, paying them a couple of thousand dollars for help with filling out the application forms and advice. The government established immigration fees come in addition to this amount. Yet this is just the beginning.
All skilled worker applications are assessed under a score based system which assigns points based on the applicant’s education, experience, age, adaptability and even the current market situation for his or her profession. It all serves to convince people that the Canadian government has done a great job of insuring their success. The quota of 250,000 immigrants that enter Canada each year translates into $365mil in revenues to the Government, and $2,5bil in capital that gets transferred into Canada. The last figure may as well be much bigger as it does not account for the 2,000 investors who must bring over $800,000 each. To raise the funds needed many newcomers sell their properties and when they arrive in Canada they feel like victims of a big scam.
According to statistics less than 10% of immigrants find employment in their field in the first year, about 50% leave Canada and those that stay are forced to accept low end survival jobs. All these facts are well known to the Department of Citizenship and ImmigrationCanada; however, the immigration quota keeps on going up each year. And the reason is simple: happy or disgruntled, immigrants are good for the bottom line result. In addition to the capital investment and immigration fee revenues, the foreign workers increase competition and reduce wages. Immigration is a main factor in the real estate price increase as well: often
immigrants will rent units helping landlords with their mortgage payments and the rich investor class migrants are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for an apartment in downtown Vancouver. For the average person the standard of living is going down: prices keep climbing up with inflation, and wages cannot catch up with them.
Hasn’t history changed? Three hundred years ago the first colonialists had to sail their ships to the shores of Africa and forcibly capture their slaves which were then transported across the ocean in long and often dangerous voyages. Today slaves come to North America on their own accord bringing their fortune along with them. This remarkable result is achieved through “diplomacy”.
Source : http://www.immigrationcanadascam.com/
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