Advice to help protect yourself from immigration fraud

IRCC works to protect immigrants and Canadians from falling victim to scams. They provide things that prospective immigrants and newcomers to Canada should keep in mind:

• No one can guarantee you a job or a visa to Canada
• Only immigration officers in Canada, and at Canadian embassies, high commissions and consulates can decide to issue a visa
• Processing fees for IRCC services are the same in Canada and around the world. Fees in local currencies are based on official exchange rates
• IRCC will ask you to pay fees for Canadian government services to the “Receiver General for Canada”, unless stated difference on a Canadian visa office website
• Be cautious of representatives charging a fee for supporting documents, like a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
• IRCC will never collect money or payments by phone

It is important to remember that IRCC will never email or call applicants to confirm basic information provided on application forms or ask for banking or credit card information by email.

An email you received might be a scam if:

• You did not expect the email
• It is from a private address or fee Web mail address (such as Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail) and not from a government of Canada “gc.ca” email account
• The email uses a standard greeting instead of your real name
• The sender asks you to update, validate, or confirm your personal information.
• You are told that you must act quickly to prevent negative consequences such as your application being cancelled
• The email promotes a special immigration offer that sounds too good to be true

If you choose to hire a representative, use an authorized immigration and citizenship consultant, lawyer or Quebec notary.