Arrest of immigration bloggers and lawyers

Alex Pavlenko (A), the founder of Immigrant.Today, and Ivanna Pavlenko (I), a Canadian immigration consultant, talk.

(A) There was a high-profile scandal in America the other day when several Russian-speaking immigration lawyers, as well as bloggers and journalists, were charged with illegal schemes.

(A) Hello from Canada, my name is Alex Pavlenko. Most likely you subscribe to people who talk about immigration and life in other countries. I myself, before I moved to Canada, got hooked on these kinds of vids. The blogger you were watching is probably in jail today. I want to discuss the situation that has developed and why it can ruin the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. I will be assisted by Ivanna Pavlenko, a Canadian immigration consultant and my wife.

(And) Hi.

(A) A brief recap of what happened. On Feb. 18, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the FBI, immigration officials and other government agencies indicted 9 people in a criminal scheme to make false asylum claims and teach their clients to lie under oath during immigration proceedings. Several lawyers and paralegals were involved in the case. They were assisted by a popular blogger, a journalist who made up the cases and other guys.

(And) Wow!

(A) Among the nine people I would single out is Yuri Mosha. He is said to have been one of the first to start talking about life in the USA on YouTube, and he also founded the projects Russian America and Second Passport, aimed at immigration to America and around the world.

(And) Wait, you recorded an interview with him.

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(A) Yes, there was such a thing. I was dizlaked there that I sold out and recorded a video with a man who allegedly cheated a lot of people. In fact, he did not pay me any money, although for several years from his company wrote to me by other people and offered to place ads, but I was stopped by something.

(And) Yes, you did.

(A) Well, let an American court find out who the perpetrator is. I'm not going to blame anyone and want to point out the other thing. Yuri launched a franchise to buy and further provide immigration services. From what I understand, it was quite successful and many of Yuri's clients were able to get into the US through political asylum. For me and my family, this was a sore point because before immigrating to Canada, I had always dreamed of living in the US.

(And) Oh, yeah, I remember you always raving about America.

(A) Yeah, but when I was figuring out what I had to do to immigrate to the U.S., it came down to two popular avenues: get in through political asylum or through big investments. I wasn't disadvantaged in Ukraine, so there was no reason to immigrate. Making up stories that I'm gay with 3 kids or that I was beaten and tortured on the Maidan in Kiev because I don't speak Ukrainian is nonsense and untrue. Definitely not mine.

(I) The U.S. has poorly developed skilled immigration in general. Canada is much better in this respect. There are over 100 clear immigration programs and streams here. If a person meets the requirements of one of the programs, you can say with high probability that he will get a permanent residence permit.

(A) And in 3 years, if you wish, you can also become a Canadian citizen.

(And) And I also want to point out that Canada uses the Express Entry system to process applications for a large number of immigration programs. And it ranks first in terms of transparency.

(A) Cool, Canada rules. But we got a little distracted. Let's get back to the accused lawyers. It's likely that their activities will be audited, just like all their clients. There is a good chance that people who cheated while applying for refugee status or green card will lose it all. Such scandals pop up quite often in the US. Ivanna, what would you, as a Canadian immigration consultant, say about Canada? Have there been similar cases there?

(And) Yes, of course. The most high-profile story was with an enterprising Chinese man whose actions affected over 1,000 people. During his career as a ghost consultant who wasn't even licensed to provide immigration services, he helped other Chinese people get permanent residency and citizenship. He made over $10 million dollars doing this, but was caught, jailed for 7 years and fined a hefty sum. At least 9 people were convicted there.

(A) Wow, tough.

(And) But that's not all, more than 1,000 Chinese have lost their Canadian residency or citizenship. Many of them, they said, were unaware that documents had been forged.

(A) Yes, there is no such thing as a freebie. Guys, I hope you are not cheated when you get a visa, green card or residence permit. Or bought IELTS results. It can all end very sadly. Ivanna, what's your advice?

(And) Of course, you can't cheat. I don't know American laws, but in Canada you can definitely lose your status if cheating gets out.

Never get cheated when applying for immigration!

(A) What about reaching out to YouTube bloggers who promise to help with immigration?

(And) Let's not limit ourselves to YouTube, there are popular blogs on Instagram and other social networks where people use their popularity and without having a special license advise for money and promise to help immigrate to the USA or Canada.

(A) You can't do that?

(I) In Canada, only immigration consultants, lawyers and notaries from Quebec are allowed to accept money. You should definitely ask for a consultant's licence and verify it on the ICCRC website.

(A) But in the U.S., the FBI caught the legal attorneys by sending their undercover agents to them.

(And) So they taught you to lie to clients, you definitely can't do that in Canada. I would also like to add what not to do and what can hurt you in the future — do not go to consultants in your city. I understand that this may be more convenient, but usually the people you are carrying the money to have nothing to do with immigration to Canada. And you don't know what documents they are filing on your behalf.

(A) Man, do you remember how we immigrated to Canada? We didn't know anything about it and we found a company in the center of Kyiv that deals with immigration to Canada. We applied to them, we paid $1500 USD for the first payment out of three, and how many mistakes they made in the application form.

(And) It's good that we noticed it in time. Maybe if we had gone to a Canadian consultant, we would have waited less than 5 years for immigration.

(A) Let's not talk about sad things. And so that our readers do not think that we inflate fears, I want to point out that the documents for immigration can be prepared on their own, without paying anyone. Only if you are lost which immigration program is right for you and how to fill out the forms, you can contact an immigration consultant.

(And) Yes, you can contact me, but before you pay money for a consultation, take a free odds assessment on our website. If the system says you have a poor chance, you will probably have a very hard time getting into Canada.