| Address: New Delhi, Delhi |
I had approached Immigration Overseas – Mr Arijeet Banerjee (Their Sr. Consultant) in the week of 5th May’14 to discuss my work experience and qualifications to assess the most suitable option for applying for PR (Permanent Residence) for countries abroad and we discussed options like Australia, U.K., New Zealand and Canada over a phone call. After assessing my profile and experience he suggested that Australia would be a good option for me. Then I formally got an introduction email from Arijeet on 10th May’14 which detailed their company profile to which I reverted with my CV on 13th May’14 for his perusal and to ascertain what we had discussed i.e. Australian Skilled Migrant Program would be the best option for me. Post this, on 29th May’14 he sent me another email wherein he explained the next steps towards the immigration process like payment, immigration & visa application fee, the consultancy agreement, my case id and how my case would be assigned to their ‘LEGAL EXPERT’. He also requested me to fill in a Consultancy Service Agreement (CSA) and return it back to them in order to initiate the process. On 24th June’14 he emailed to me stating that he would be closing my query as I did not provide any confirmation to proceed with my visa application. (I was in the process of arranging funds in this period).
Towards the end of July I was ready with the funds and contacted them over the phone to which their employee Michelle Lynn emailed me with the revised fee structure which was Rs71, 250/- out of which Rs.50, 000/ was to be paid initially and the rest within 60 days from the day of Skilled Assessment Outcome in two consecutive months. On 4th August’14, I made the payment of Rs50, 000/- to Immigration Overseas to which Michelle acknowledged the payment and congratulated me for being selected for the ‘Skilled Nominate Visa Programme’.
Post this, I was contacted by Varun (Sr.Immigration Manager) on 6th Aug’14 whereby we had a discussion over the phone and he advised me that I was NOT eligible for this application until I have completed my 3 years of full time work experience after my last educational qualification (MBA in 2009-10 as mentioned in my CV that I had sent to them earlier). He then suggested me that I could only start my application after 7 months which was the remaining time to complete my 3 years Full time work experience (Calculated by added my previous full time job experience) because in 2014 August I was working as a Contract based Risk Consultant and my job was not Full Time. To this I reverted to him stating that: ‘I agree, we would initiate my application once my 3 year work experience is completed which should be atleast another 7 months and provided I get a job this month itself.’
This was never told to me by Arijeet earlier that I had to complete 3 years Full time experience AFTER my last qualification and that it is NOT possible to avoid showing my MBA qualification in order to straight away show all my previous work experience to qualify for this visa category. Arijeet instead suggested filing an application and filling in the CSA (Consultancy Service Agreement), although I had already sent him my CV for a review and to assess my profile and even discussed this in detail face to face with him as sent my CV on email which clearly stated my work experience after my last qualification was less than 3 years. At this point in time he should not have taken the payment from me because I was not eligible for this Visa category.
Post this I tried looking out for full time jobs as required to be eligible for the Australian PR however did not find any and hence had to continue with my Contract based part time job. After trying to search for a few months for a full time job, I contacted immigration overseas again on 21st Oct, 14 to look for their advice on immigrating to another country like Canada, New Zealand and U.K. because I was not eligible for Australia. I then had a meeting with Immigration Overseas on 21st Oct’14 decided to an outcome that Canada might be a better opportunity for me given my skillset and work experience.
Due to this I requested Immigration Overseas with some information on what are the visa procedures for Canada and their employee Narendra Kumar (Team Lead – Operations) suggested me that Canada is launching a new program called Express Entry and that this would be a bit similar to the Australian PR program however in this case, the candidate profile had to be first put into a job bank and then a candidate can apply only by invitation and that is only if the candidate’s profile has been selected by an employer. Although this information was already available at the http://www.cic.gc.ca/ website. (Website for Canadian Immigration law)
This was totally different to Australian system where the candidate does not need to be selected by an employer in order to apply for the PR. Hence I asked Naredra a few specific questions like: is there any other way to file a PR for Canada if we are not selected by an employer, however Narendra just provided a synopsis of his previous email to me and there was no clarity on how the new Canadian PR process / express entry would work if the candidate is not being selected by an employer. Post this, my case was handed over to Richa Gaur (Sr. Immigration Manager) on 7th Nov’14. Hence I started asking her what should be my next step, and she only suggested that I may want to take my IELTS test (English test for Canadian immigration). I again asked Richa on 24th, 27th and 28th Nov’14 if there was any further clarity on this program and she reverted as usual stating ‘Whenever we will get an update we will let you know’. Till this time my query was still unresolved and Richa has only updated me to take IELTS.
Finally Richa reverted to me on the 31st Dec to speak regarding the express entry however I was out of country and hence emailed Richa updating her of my new number but she never reverted. I returned to India on the 17th Jan and within a week, contacted Richa over the phone and she updated me that without an employer selecting my profile, there is no other way for me to file for Canadain PR and that if my profile is not selected within 12 months, then in my profile would be removed from the Canadian database and I will have to start a new application all over again.
Considering this, I contacted her finally to let her know that I would not want to proceed with my Visa application because the Canadian express entry system has different laws and requires an employer to select a candidate profile before the candidate could apply and because of the 12 month cap on candidate profile in the system. Hence I requested her for a refund of the fee I had already paid because and stated the following reasons:
1) I was given wrong advice on eligibility for Australian PR and they took the money from me even after reviewing my CV and incorrectly suggested me that I was eligible for the Australian PR Visa.
2) Additionally, the alternate option Canada is very different and requires a Candidate profile to be eligible for application by Invitation only which would be only made if a profile selected by an employer. Additionally he profile is removed from their system after 12 months and requires a fresh application to be made.
3) My application has not even been initiated for neither Australia nor Canada.
(I have an email correspondence and evidence to prove all the facts mentioned in this complaint)
Richa, told me that she needed to speak to her management before refunding my fee. I followed up with her a couple of times, post which she finally called me and told me that their management does not agree to refunding my money because of the following reason:
‘A consultation has taken place on file and you are aware of all outstanding documents in order for us to submit an eligible application. You are entitled to withdraw at any stage. However, once more I would like to draw your attention to the Agreement under 'Ending this agreement' where it is clearly stated that you will be liable for any outstanding balance on account or additional charges incurred due to the same. Regardless of the circumstances in which you choose to withdraw, this clause still applies.’
