A bigger photo than Raghbir Singh Bharowal’s life is plastered in the windows of its surrey immigration consulting firm, BC. He announces the services to hundreds of thousands of his followers on social networks and has even announced plans to expand his business.
The signaling with his portrait abroad of his firm says “Visa and Immigration Consultant.”
But Bharowal does not have a license to practice immigration consultancy in Canada. He was permanently revoked by the Faculty of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) last year for misconduct, and received more than $ 110,000 in fines, including restitution payments to previous clients.
Only a handful of 13,000 registered immigration consultants from Canada have been beaten with such penalty.
“It was discovered that it had been involved in misconduct that was quite serious, including the threat of clients for deportation, informing the police, being dishonest and overload rates,” said Eoin Logan, a immigration negligence lawyer whose office, KSW lawyers, is just locking the Bharowal immigration solution.
Since then, the CICC has presented its disciplinary decision against Bharowal in a federal court, citing breach.
CBC News has made repeated attempts to communicate with Bharowal to comment to ask whether or not he continues. Bharowal is still publicly listed as owner of the Bharowal immigration solution.
Critics such as Logan say that Bharowal’s ability to possess an immigration consulting firm without being a licensed consultant sheds light on an evident gap within the regulations.
“Immigration consulting companies do not have to be owned by immigration consultants; they can be owned by anyone,” said Logan. “Benefit, benefiting [immigration consulting] Although the university has considered that it is someone who should not participate in immigration services. “
The College declined to comment on the case due to the legal procedures ongoing, but said in a statement that issues cease and give up when you have reasons to believe that a person is operating as an unauthorized professional.
It also has the legal option to submit a contempt to the court order in cases where an unsending consultant continues to practice.
Revocated license
The Bharowal license was revoked by the University on September 27, 2024. According to the report of the Discipline Committee, three of its previous clients were presented claiming that they were charged to $ 40,000 in rates for services. The alleged misconduct occurred between 2019 and 2020.
In two cases, the plaintiffs alleged that Bharowal helped them obtain visas and employment in a Manitoba -based truck company called John White Trucking. According to the report, when one of the plaintiffs expressed concern to Bharowal for poor working conditions, they told him “that he should keep his mouth closed” and that could be deported if he complained or questioned the employer.
A second plaintiff, who also worked at John White Trucking after paying Bharowal for the services, said he contacted a temporary foreign workers advisor about the concerns that the employer was exploiting him. According to the discipline report, the worker claimed that Bharowal told him to withdraw his complaint from the advisor, or Bharowal canceled his visa and withdraw the permanent residence application of the worker.
The third plaintiff claimed that Bharowal charged him $ 39,000 for services and kept his passport until the full payment was made.
According to the disciplinary decision, Bharowal has “greatly denied” the accusations against him.
The University Disciplinary Committee said that he found enough violations of his code of conduct to guarantee a permanent revocation of the Bharowal license and fines, including $ 68,875 in customer restitution and $ 50,000 to the University, in addition to the legal fees of the regulator.
In January, the Faculty of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants presented its disciplinary decision in a federal court as a court order against Bharowal.
Gaps in the system
Bharowal is still listed as a licensed immigration consultant on his LinkedIn profile. Bharowal Imigration Solutions has more than 300,000 Tiktok followers, where Bharowal appears in advertisements for company services. The firm has announced plans to open an office in Kamloops.
According to current CICC regulations, there are no laws that prevent people without a license from having an immigration consulting firm, which means Bharowal, despite not having a license, a company can still have and operate whenever he is not the one who offers immigration advice.
“The company is in its own name and announces the company, no longer its own services,” Logan said. “At first glance, on social networks, it is publicizing, it is expanding its business, without the shackles of being tied to the regulator.”
Logan calls him a system in the system that does not exist within many other professions linked by ethical and regulatory standards. For example, non -lawyers cannot possess or be a majority shareholder in law firms in BC
“[Unlicensed owners] They are not subject to codes of behavior as immigration consultants or ethical codes, ” he said. “That creates many regulatory problems. If it is a regulated profession, there must be control over how these services are provided, to protect the public that could be used.”
A former Surrey immigration consultant continues to direct his company months after his license was revoked for misconduct. Last year, Raghbir Singh Bharowal lost his license in the midst of accusations that they charged customers too much, and when they complained, he threatened them with deportation. The former consultant continues to announce the services to hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks. As Jon Hernández reports, critics say the case highlights a large regulatory gap.
Ottawa is in the midst of the development of a new set of regulations for the CICC. CBC News has learned that an ordinance is seriously considered that prevents practitioners without a license from possessing and operating operational companies.
In a statement, immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada said that “it intends to introduce new rules to penalize paid representatives who violate the law by offering representation or advice on immigration or citizenship requests. The proposed regulations are intended to strengthen the application, protect the applicants from the exploitation and maintain the integrity of the Canadian immigration system.”
Hugo Velázquez, director of Family Settlement at MOSAIC newcomer services in Vancouver, He says that the change must occur for the exploitation of the growing curled up of vulnerable newcomers. He is asking the university to audite more companies for misconduct.
“We have people who probably spent their life of savings to come to Canada, and then they are fraudulently mistreated,” said Velázquez.
