The job market
This page does not offer jobs. It explains how to look for one without being stripped of your money — which, in this sector, is the first skill to acquire.
Where to look for work, legally and free of charge
The positions exist, and a large share of them are published publicly, free of charge, on sites anyone can consult. Nobody needs an intermediary to reach them.
Job Bank (Government of Canada)
The Government of Canada's public employment service. Searching is free and requires no intermediary. Postings open to foreign workers are identified as such.
European public employment services
The EURES portal brings together postings from European public employment services. Country by country: Cliclavoro in Italy (cliclavoro.gov.it), the Bundesagentur für Arbeit in Germany (arbeitsagentur.de), France Travail in France (francetravail.fr).
LinkedIn
Useful for identifying real facilities and real recruiters, and for checking that a person writing to you exists and works where they claim to.
Consulting these sites costs nothing. If someone offers to "give you access" to postings in exchange for payment, they are selling you what is already free and public.
Recognising a fake job offer
Fake offers all look alike. Any single one of the following signs is enough to end the conversation.
- You are asked for money to obtain the job, under any name: file fees, reservation, deposit, fast-tracking.
- You are promised an outcome: "guaranteed visa", "departure assured", "100% acceptance".
- You are rushed: the offer expires in hours, the place is about to go, an immediate decision is demanded.
- They refuse to give a full name, a professional registration number, or a verifiable address.
- The whole exchange happens on a messaging app, with no written document at any point.
- You are asked to send your passport or diplomas before any serious conversation.
- The wage quoted is well above the going rate for that role in that region.
- You are asked to pay into a personal account, or by untraceable money transfer.
What to do
- Pay nothing. No sum, on no pretext, until you have verified.
- Ask for the full name and professional registration number of the person you are dealing with.
- Check that number yourself, on the public register of the relevant authority.
- Look up the employer: do they exist? Can they be reached at a public address?
- Report it. An unreported fraud will claim other victims.
A job is not for sale
This is the most important point on this page. An employment contract is not sold and not bought. Anyone who asks for payment in exchange for a contract of employment is committing an offence.
The rule has no exceptions. It admits no "administrative fees", no "contribution to the process", no "deposit refunded from your first wage". Recruitment costs fall to the employer, never to the candidate.
There are, on the other hand, legitimate costs, and they must be told apart: fees paid to the authorities, medical examination and language test fees paid to providers, and the fees of an authorised immigration representative, governed by a written retainer. None of these is ever the price of a job.
Immigration consultant and recruiter are not the same job
The confusion between these two roles is sustained by people who hold neither. They are two distinct authorisations, issued by two distinct authorities.
The regulated immigration consultant
- Authorised to represent you before the immigration authorities, for a fee.
- Registered with a regulator, bound by a code of professional conduct and a disciplinary regime.
- Their registration is verifiable on a public register.
- They can neither guarantee an outcome nor charge a candidate recruitment fees.
The licensed recruiter
- Authorised to connect foreign workers with employers.
- Licensed by the province, independently of any immigration registration.
- Recruitment costs fall to the employer, never to the candidate.
- Publishing job offers aimed at foreign workers without that licence is a provincial offence.
Being registered as an immigration consultant does not authorise recruiting. Holding a recruiter licence does not authorise representing someone in immigration. A person doing both must hold both authorisations, and must be able to show you both numbers.
Why this page exists
We could have written a page that showcases our services. We chose to write this one instead.
The reason is simple: whoever is reading these lines has probably been looking for work abroad for months, may already have been approached by an intermediary, and may already have paid money. What is most useful to them at that moment is not a brochure. It is knowing how to recognise what is about to happen to them.
If this page spares you a fraud and you never become our client, it will have done its job.
Frequently asked questions about looking for work
- Do you have to pay to get a job abroad?
- No. Never, in any form. Recruitment costs fall to the employer. Anyone who asks for payment in exchange for a contract of employment is committing an offence. There are, however, legitimate costs that are never the price of a job: fees paid to the authorities, medical examination and language test fees, and the fees of an authorised immigration representative, governed by a written retainer.
- How can I tell whether a job offer is fake?
- A request for money, a promised outcome, artificial urgency, a refusal to give a full name and professional registration number, or a request for identity documents before any serious conversation: any one of these signs is enough to end the exchange.
- Where can I look for work free of charge?
- On public employment services, including the Government of Canada's Job Bank, and on employers' own websites. Searching is free and requires no intermediary. Nobody can sell you access to what is already public.
- What is the difference between an immigration consultant and a recruiter?
- They are two distinct authorisations, issued by two distinct authorities. A regulated immigration consultant is authorised to represent you before the immigration authorities. A licensed recruiter is authorised to connect foreign workers with employers. Being registered as a consultant does not authorise recruiting, and the reverse is equally true.
- Can anyone guarantee a visa or a work permit?
- No. The decision rests solely with the authorities of the country concerned. No consultant, no firm and no employer can promise it. A guaranteed outcome is, in itself, the sign to end the conversation.
Unsure about an offer? Ask before you pay.
Send us what you received. We will tell you what we make of it, whether you are a client or not.