The Canadian press is full of such stories, reports the BBC. The names of many “heroes” often sound painfully familiar. A few years ago, everyone learned about the misfortune that befell clients of immigration consultants Galina and Sergei Slipachenko. Their firm offered this option: buy a ticket to America by any means, there you will be met, taken to Niagara Falls – it’s on the border – and there you “surrender” to Canadian authorities as refugees. In those days, Canada accepted any refugees, no matter how they entered the country. Later they could, of course, be deported, but they were definitely kept until trial.
Before “surrendering,” the immigration consultant Slipachenko offered clients to give her all their money and jewelry for safekeeping. She promised to return everything on the Canadian side. Once in Canada, the “refugees” began to look for their belongings and learned the unpleasant news: Galina, it turned out, had been detained by Canadian customs and everything was confiscated from her. Not everyone believed this version and went to the police. There was an investigation, then the court found Galina guilty. The punishment, from the victims’ point of view, was laughable – one year of probation and a thousand dollar fine.
And soon after September 11, the path for refugees to Canada via America was simply closed off. Now the rule is: if you get to America, seek asylum there...
About fifteen residents of Belarusian Mogilev were planning to leave for Canada on work visas. People sold their cars and apartments, and were planning to celebrate the New Year already in Canada. Several years have passed since then, and they, having lost everything, are still paying off debts. And only this year, on March 7, the trial of the owner of the company that once promised them an easy path to Canada will begin in Toronto.
Yuri Gavris, the 39-year-old owner of the Toronto immigration firm Status Policy Ltd., had been under observation by Canadian authorities for several months. But he didn’t even suspect it. The company’s website, in two languages (English and Russian), offered a “quick opportunity to immigrate and live in Canada.” Clients were promised an individual approach.
One client needed such an approach urgently: she was married, but had a lover in Trinidad whom she wanted to bring to Canada by any means. In early November of last year, the lovers met with Gavris in Toronto. After hearing their story, the businessman recommended the lover seek asylum in Canada – everyone knows that by law a refugee must at least be heard in court, which could take a couple of years. During this time, the client’s dear friend should find himself a fictitious bride and marry her.
The consultant, as the couple later claimed, gave advice on how to present the story to immigration authorities “to make it look convincing,” and that the relationship with the fictitious wife would not raise any doubts. For services in obtaining refugee status for the client, Yuri Gavris asked for five thousand Canadian dollars, and another fifteen hundred – for help in finding a fictitious bride. That is what is stated in police documents. The charges have not yet been proven in court. The other day he was arrested and released on bail pending trial. Gavris is accused of deceiving clients and teaching them to give false testimony, which is against the law.
“We received calls reporting that this firm was operating illegally and deceiving clients. And then, to find out what was going on, we decided to conduct this operation,” says RCMP Sergeant Warren Gherasim. So far there are two victims in the case, but there will be significantly more, he is sure. “Judging by the number of files we seized from Gavris’s office, business was going quite well; he had a lot of clients. It’s hard to say right away how many of them were deceived. It takes time to go through all the files and talk to former and current clients – they are all over the world,” the police representative states.
The day after Yuri Gavris’s arrest, the Canadian Association of Immigration Consultants, of which the arrested man is a member, stated that it “received complaints about him as early as last spring and conducted its own investigation.” “We are trying to clean up this profession. That is exactly why our association was created,” says its director, Ben Trister. Not just anyone can now consult – you need special credentials, passing an exam, and becoming a member of the association. It now has fifteen hundred names. Yuri Gavris is among them. The association is still deciding what to do.
If the court proves his guilt, then this consultant, according to the new rules, experts remind, faces a harsher punishment – five years in prison or a fine of one hundred thousand dollars.