As government ranking scores soar, newcomers beef up credentials to try to stay in Canada

When Harkirat Singh Virdi moved to Brampton from India, he was focused on building a career in computer programming.

But he wound up pivoting to learn French, and spending $3,000 in the process, to help his bid to land permanent residency.

"I started to learn French for 10 hours per day and just left my part time job it was the best investment," said the 23-year-old, who became a permanent resident in 2022.

Singh Virdi now says he's seeing an increasing number of people asking for tips on learning Frenchas the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores have soared in recent months, averaging over 540 since early 2024. If newcomers can't get their score to that threshold, they risk not qualifying for permanent residencyand having to leave Canada.

CRS is a ranking system used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) forimmigrants applying for a permanent residency, using factors like age, level of education, English proficiency and work experience. Every two weeks, IRCC draws a CRS rank and applicants with that score or higher are invited to submit documents to receive a permanent resident card.

Several immigrant workers have told CBC Toronto they're worried about their future as the process becomes more competitive.

There are a few ways to increase the points scored on the CRS: learn French, receive a Labour Market Impact Assessment from your employer, apply for the Provincial Nomination Program, or work in the STEM, trade, health care, agriculture or transportation industries.

Many temporary workers will be left out, said Manan Gupta, a Brampton based immigration consultant.

"Canada's immigration system is in such a thick mess right now," he said.

LMIA has become a 'laughing stock:' consultant

A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which adds 50 points to an application, is a document from an employer to hire a foreign worker when no Canadian or permanent resident is available to fill the role.

Even though it is illegal to charge an employee for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, Gupta said it is becoming far too common for workers to spend tens of thousands of dollars to have lawyers, consultants and employers show payrolls, sometimes fake ones, in targeted job fields for the document.

"It is illegal. It is unethical. It is unprofessional," he said. "They [foreign workers] are vulnerable desperate. The employers find it an easy way to make quick bucks."

Gursewak Singh Gill, who works as a warehouse manager, is one of the people who have taken the Labour Market Impact Assessment route.

The 34-year-old said he has spent $33,500 so far $5,000 on the IRCC application, $500 in legal fees and $28,000 to his employer. He said his CRS score is still at 489, and with a work permit expiring in November, learning French is not an option.

"Other than my job, now I'm driving Uber and trying to pay my lawyer in installments," Gill said.

Gupta said the amount Gill is paying is the ballpark average for people who have spent years studying, working and building a life in Canada.

"They will rather spend it instead of going back high and dry," he said, adding that the LMIA "has become a laughing stock" because anyone can purchase them, with no oversight from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The federal department did not respond to CBC Toronto's request for a comment.

More competition for Provincial Nomination Program

Gill, who has an MBA from India and a computer science diploma from Montreal College of Information Technology, has left the field he loves, banking, to work as a carpenter so that he can qualify as a skilled worker.

He was offered a $40,000 plan by an immigration expert to move to a different province and apply under the Provincial Nomination Program. It's for applicants who are working in streams or rural areas where a province requires workers and it adds 600 points to an application.

But that program has become increasingly competitive, prompting provinces like Manitoba, Alberta and Prince Edward Island to pause it.

PNP applications rose from 6,000 in 2004 to 68,000 in 2019, to 88,000 in 2022, per Statistics Canada.

With a pregnant wife, a community he volunteers in as an emergency responder and a full-time job, Gill is reluctant to move provinces, with only five months left on his work permit.

"I can't express in words how I feel right now, there's so much stress," Gill said.

Lack of accountability for the 'mess'

Aside from changing professions and provinces to become an ideal candidate for permanent residency, Gupta said he is seeing others use "dubious" ways to get their status fielding a 20 per cent increase in calls from workers inquiring about spousal permits and refugee claims this year.

But Gill volunteered throughout the pandemic to deliver food to people's homes, worked as a volunteer emergency responder during the 2019 Ottawa floods, Montreal floods, and during the 2022 Brampton floods. With his skills and work for the community, he said he doesn't understand why Canada won't allow him to stay.

Gupta said foreign students and workers have been used as "cash cows," adding over $20 billion into the Canadian economy annually. With the affordability crisis, he said they have now become scapegoats.

"The [federal] government needs to first of all admit that they were sleeping at the wheel when it all happened," he said. "Whether it's the current immigration minister who is cleaning up the mess or his predecessors, everybody has to be standing in a line and accepting that they made a big mess."