Licence suspension upheld for B.C. immigration consultant accused of false promises to foreign workers

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A Surrey immigration consultant, who is facing a class-action lawsuit launched by foreign workers, has lost his bid to have a suspension of his license overturned.

Kuldeep Bansal launched an appeal of an Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICRCC) decision, which suspended his licence in August.

In his appeal, Bansal argued the move was going to cause “irreparable” harm to his business reputation and income.

But the Federal Court is upholding the suspension, saying there was no proof his loss of income would amount to irreparable harm. The court also said due to “extensive media coverage regarding Mr. Bansal’s immigration activities which precluded the suspension,” harm to his reputation has likely already occurred.

Court documents say Bansal earned $234,680 in 2018.

The suspension was ordered because “there were reasonable grounds to believe that such action is necessary to protect the public from Mr. Bansal,” according to documents submitted in Federal Court.

There have been 40 complaints lodged against Bansal since 2012, which an affidavit from the disciplinary committee of the ICRCC claims amounts to professional misconduct.

“He actively recruited foreign workers abroad, charged them significant fees to obtain employment in Canada and promised that they would obtain permanent residency and could then bring their families to Canada. In many cases, they paid Bansal thousands of dollars for jobs only to discover upon their arrival in Canada that the promised jobs specified on their work permits were not available, leaving them without any source of income or access to social services and legally unable to work other jobs as they were tied to their work permit,” the affidavit continues.

Meantime, foreign workers are taking Bansal to court, alleging he charged them up to $8,500 to work at Mac’s Convenience stores when no such jobs existed

The lawsuit was filed four years ago and no trial date has been set.

A previous version of this article stated Kuldeep Bansal was found to have lured workers under false pretenses. The article has been edited to instead reflect information in an affidavit.