Another immigration consultant up to no good
A Montreal-based immigration consultant that also worked in areas overseas was charged Tuesday, June 15th with conspiracy and organizing feigned marriages.
Richard Yalaoui, is an accredited immigration consultant and a member of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) The arrest of Yalaoui and several others come after a year and a half long investigation and includes charges like possession of equipment used to commit forgery, unlawful possession of credit card data and conspiracy to forge documents and credit cards.
The consultant helped newcomers to Canada get around immigration laws and rules, advising clients to break the law in order to get into Canada, by marriage to Canadian citizens or by forging documents to say such.
“He was telling people how to come to Canada while getting around the laws”, said spokesperson for the RCMP Luc Thibault, “he was acting as a consultant not just in Montreal, but overseas also.”
The RCMP is also considering the fact that those immigrating to Canada may have thought the marriages were legitimate and may have been unaware that the documents were forged. As early as 2007, Yalaoui was involved in a case where a man was refused a permanent residency visa because the man’s marriage to a Canadian citizen didn’t seem to be real.
The initial investigation was not into shady immigration consultants, but rather document fraud that included forging Canadian passports.
Intake
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
