Most people who lose money to immigration fraud are careful people. They were approached at a stressful moment, by someone who seemed knowledgeable, with an offer that met a real need. Fraud in this field rarely looks like crime. It looks like help.
The signs are usually there, though. This guide explains what to look for, how to check the people you deal with, and what to do in the UAE if you think you have been targeted. It is general guidance, not legal advice.
The warning signs
Promises no one can make
Only the government of the destination country decides a visa application. Anyone who guarantees a visa, a work permit or a particular outcome is promising something that is not theirs to give. The same applies to promises of approval within an unusually short time, or to success rates you cannot check.
Paying for a job offer
Genuine employers recruit because they need staff. They do not normally charge candidates for a job offer, a contract or sponsorship. Several countries go further. Australia makes it unlawful to ask for or receive payment in return for sponsorship. UK sponsors must not pass their certificate of sponsorship fee or the Immigration Skills Charge on to the worker. Canada prohibits employers of temporary foreign workers from charging or recovering recruitment fees from them.
Official government fees for your own visa application are normal, and you pay them to the government or its appointed visa application centre. A payment to a person or an agency to secure a job, a quota place or a permit is a serious warning sign.
Money that goes to the wrong place
- Requests for cash only, or for transfers to a personal bank account, an account in a third country or a money transfer service.
- Requests for payment in cryptocurrency or gift cards.
- No receipt, or a receipt that does not show the name of the business you are dealing with.
- Fees that keep appearing, each one described as the final step.
No written agreement
A reputable adviser explains in writing what they will do, what they will not do, what they charge and what happens if you withdraw. You are entitled to ask any adviser, including Ashford, for this before you pay. If someone refuses, or will only communicate through voice notes on a messaging app, treat that as a warning.
Pressure and secrecy
- A deadline that expires today, or a claim that the last few places are almost gone.
- Advice not to tell your employer, your family or your bank.
- Interviews held only by text chat, or a job offer made with no interview at all.
- Requests to hand your passport or Emirates ID to a recruiter. Your passport should go only to an embassy, a consulate or an official visa application centre as part of an application.
Claims of official connections
Fraudsters often use government logos, official-sounding names or claims of special relationships with embassies. Government immigration services are run from official websites, such as canada.ca, gov.uk, immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, immigration.govt.nz and uscis.gov. Visa application centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are run by companies appointed by each government to collect documents and biometrics. They do not decide applications and cannot influence the outcome.
The US Diversity Visa programme is a common example. When it runs, entries are made only through the US Department of State’s official website, and results are checked there too. Messages saying you have won, or asking you to pay someone to secure a place, do not come from the US government.
Requests to bend the truth
Be wary of anyone who suggests inventing a job, inflating experience letters, buying a test certificate, showing funds that someone else has placed in your account for a few days, or leaving out a previous refusal. Misrepresentation can lead to refusal, a ban on future applications and, in some countries, criminal liability. The consequences fall on you, not on the person who suggested it.
How to check an immigration adviser
Several countries restrict who may give immigration advice or represent applicants for payment, and publish registers you can search yourself.
- Canada: paid representatives must be authorised. That means a licensee of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, a lawyer who is a member of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario or a notary of the Chambre des notaires du Québec. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada may return or refuse an application that involves an unauthorised paid representative.
- United Kingdom: immigration advisers must be registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) or belong to an approved professional body, as solicitors do. The IAA’s Adviser Finder lets you check a name.
- Australia: anyone giving immigration assistance must be a registered migration agent, an Australian legal practitioner or an exempt person. The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority keeps a public register of registered agents.
- New Zealand: anyone giving New Zealand immigration advice must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless they are exempt, and this applies to advice given outside New Zealand too. The Authority keeps a register of licensed advisers.
- United States: representation before US immigration authorities is limited to attorneys in good standing with a US state or territory bar, accredited representatives of organisations recognised by the Department of Justice, and a few other narrow categories.
When you check a register, match the full name, the registration number and the business name to the person you are actually dealing with. Fraudsters sometimes borrow the details of a genuine adviser, so contact the adviser through the details on the register, not the details you were sent.
Where your application must be handled by a licensed or registered practitioner, Ashford will tell you so and explain the options available to you.
How to verify an employer
- Look the company up independently. Find its official website and main telephone number yourself, and call to confirm that the person and the vacancy exist.
- Check the email address. Genuine offers usually come from a company domain that matches the company’s real website, not from a free email account.
- Use official registers where they exist. The UK publishes a register of licensed sponsors, the Netherlands immigration service publishes a public register of recognised sponsors, and most European countries have searchable company registers.
- Compare the offer with the role. Pay far above the local norm, no interview, or duties that do not match your experience are all reasons for caution.
- Read the contract before you pay anyone or resign. It should name the employer, the workplace, the pay, the hours and any deductions.
- Ask how the work permit will be obtained and who pays for it. A genuine employer can explain its side of the process.
If you think you have been targeted
- Stop paying. Do not send more money, even if you are told it will release a refund or an approval.
- Keep the evidence: messages, emails, receipts, transfer details, names, phone numbers and any documents you were sent.
- Contact your bank straight away if you paid by card or bank transfer. The sooner it knows, the more it may be able to do.
- Report it to the police in the emirate where you live. Dubai Police and Abu Dhabi Police accept reports at police stations and through their official channels, and the other emirates have their own police services.
- If the fraud used the name of a government or an embassy, tell that government through its official website. Most immigration authorities publish guidance on reporting fraud.
- If you handed over your passport or copies of identity documents, tell your embassy or consulate, and watch for signs that they are being misused.
If you have received an offer or a proposal and are unsure about it, you can book a consultation with Ashford and we will go through it with you. We will tell you plainly what concerns us, what the official process involves and what you can check next.
