Immigration consultant fined $50K, sentenced to house arrest after creating fake documents: CBSA

A Winnipeg man who worked as an immigration consultant has pleaded guilty to misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, after he created fraudulent documents as part of his consultancy, the Canada Border Service Agency says.

Balkaran Singh, 45, was working as a regulated Canadian immigration consultant when he sparked the suspicion of the Canada Border Service Agency in January 2021, the federal agency said in a Friday news release.

That month, he went to the Emerson, Man., border crossing to obtain work permits for three non-citizens accompanying him, telling border officers he offered all three jobs at a gurdwara — a Sikh holy place of worship — near Winnipeg, the agency said.

The officers denied the work permits due to "multiple concerns and indicators," according to the release, and referred the case to the border service agency's criminal investigations section.

In December 2023, the investigators executed a warrant to search Singh's home and place of business, as well as a gurdwara. They took a computer, multiple cellphones and physical documents as evidence, the border services agency said.

The investigation determined that Singh "did not adhere to the conditions set out in several employment offers at the gurdwara" and that "he had created and procured fraudulent documents for clients of his immigration consultancy," the border services agency said.

Singh was charged in February under a section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that makes it a criminal offence to knowingly counsel a person to misrepresent or withhold information that could interfere with enforcement of that act.

He pleaded guilty on Oct. 2 to one count of counselling misrepresentation.

He was sentenced to two years less a day of house arrest, which includes a prohibition on providing immigration advice, a curfew and an order to complete 200 hours of community service. He was also fined $50,000.