Question: I need Cooks for my pub-bistro and was advised by a recruiter to submit an ELMO for Front Counter Attendants instead. He said that because the Food Counter Attendant is on both the ELMO and Occupations Under Pressure lists, this approach would speed up the process considerably. The workers would also be eligible for sponsorship through the Provincial Nominee Pilot (PNP) Program for Entry Level and Semi-Skilled workers. In addition, he said he would be able to give me a significant discount on the recruitment costs if I agreed, in advance, to nominate these people through the PNP program. The cost break sounds great but I’m not sure if this is legal.
Answer: Our recent labour shortages have created a significant demand for foreign workers in our industry (approximately 4000 LMO/ELMOs were approved in the first 6 months of this year alone). As a result, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of recruitment companies who are (or claim to be) specialists in helping employers through the LMO process and recruiting foreign workers. These companies are not regulated by the government so you need to be cautious. As a minimum, recruiters should be licensed as an employment agency and individuals who provide immigration services must meet CIC requirements. This does not guarantee that you will get good service or advice, but it does give you some degree of quality assurance and recourse through a regulatory body if you believe the service provider has acted unethically or incompetently.
You should not use a recruiter who asks you to sign a false or misleading LMO application form. It is your signature on the form, not his, and it is you who will ultimately be held accountable for ensuring that the information is correct.
Reducing recruitment costs in exchange for agreeing to sponsor workers through the PNP program is even more problematic. In this circumstance, for the recruiter to recoup his costs (and make a profit) he may very well be charging the workers for finding them a job. This is illegal in BC. In addition, for a further fee to the worker, he may be promising that the job will lead to permanent immigration in an expedited manner. This is an abuse of the PNP program. If the government finds evidence of a fee being charged for finding a job, Employment Standards will be notified. If there is evidence that a PNP application involved fraud or intentional misrepresentation, the Canadian Border Services Agency would be notified.
Employers are advised to avoid using recruiters who use unethical business practices or who skirt the letter or spirit of the law.
You can email your foreign worker program questions to plarose@go2hr.ca.
More foreign worker questions: Foreign Worker Q&A
More information on recruiting foreign workers: Recruiting > Foreign Workers
