Hey guys how are you doing?
I was active in the August aor 2020 group but left since I got my PR on March 25th.
I want to share my story with you guys and ask for advice, if you can please leave me a piece of advice on my situation will help me a lot.
Sorry but I wrote this in a very casual and sometimes very personal way, I tried to put into words exactly how I would tell this story if we were chatting in person.
I arrived in Canada with my wife for work in November 2018, when I started working in the company that provided me my LMIA and subsequent work permit.At that time I needed the Job Offer / LMIA to give me enough points to apply for the PR.
The problems started in the beginning of the job offer, when my boss said that he was only doing the lmia process if I pay for everything, which I did without thinking twice because that was my way to immigrate to Canada and I was willing to pay the lawyer fees + taxes. (Over 5K Cad)
Our deal was: he does the lmia for me and I work there for the entire contract (2 years) after that I can go work anywhere I want, and that was ok for me, he said that the salary was low in the beginning but would give me raises as I progress in the job, which for me was fine too. [NOTE: on my work permit I can only work for this company, the position is admin officer and the minimum pay is $23.50/hour - 40 hours a week]
When I started the work I noticed that it was a mistake, it was never an office position, the company installs countertops so he would send me on various tasks during the day, sometimes with him, most of the times doing installation with the installation crew.
The job is heavy and I was the only English speaker in the whole company (everybody else only spoke Chinese) and had to follow orders in a very disorienting way in an environment that I was not familiar.
So put yourself in my position:
An Office guy (I was a lawyer back home!), coming for an office job in Canada and then you get a job carrying countertops (some islands weight more than 300lbs!) with people you don’t know, in a language you don’t know and to be worst the hours were insane, and did I mention no extra overtime?
Every two weeks we would work for around 110 hours, which you can think it’s fine, but again remember that it is 110 hours of stone carrying, how does that sounds now?
But it get worst, when I receive my payment I discovered what “the pay is low” meant, I wasn’t getting paid $23.50/hour as it says in my lmia, I was getting paid $18/hour!!! So basically on every paycheque my boss would print an excell sheet showing how much money I would have to pay him back!!!! (To meet the required $23.50 of the LmIa)
Usually, after paying him I would take home $600-$900 every 2 weeks... for 110+ hours... to live in Vancouver with a wife... let that sink in.
Don’t worry my friend, it gets worse! I was quite disappointed with this situation, being broke and the abuse I was suffering there.
Then one night in December my wife was going to meet me downtown to grab some food and she was a victim of a hit and run.
She broke her arm, cracked her ribs, hurt kidneys, lungs, liver, stomach, but thank God she survived and now is fine.
Yes, when things were so bad I was not counting on that.
So now I was responsible for the household, and I was making this incredible salary of $1600ish a month in Vancouver where my rent is $1500 alone.
Basically I went through all my savings, borrowed money from parents so we could stay here in Canada. I had no option because this was our way to Canada so I put myself together, worked as hard as I could and took care of my wife, it wasn’t easy, it was the darkest time of my life, I was working 12 hour days and then coming home to take care of her, shower her, prepare dinner and her lunch and then spend a little time with her and go to bed.
I almost went insane, I went into “secret depression” I told myself I could be depressed as long as nobody knew, so my commute to work was my “me time” and the shower at home was the only place I could cry (yeah it sucks but I did that a lot). From around January to March of 2019 I was desperately broke, I sold everything I had and still wasn’t able to make ends meet, so I had to “cut” my lunches as a way to save money, shit that was fucked up, usually on lunch time the crew would stop somewhere to eat and I would stay in the van and try to drink as much water I could so I would have the sensation of a full belly... and dudes... dont try that ok?because that sucks! Hahaha
So after my wife healed (more than 6 months) she found work and works in an amazing company since then, but our problem persisted as I could not leave my work or I would lose my work permit and consequently wouldn’t be able to apply for the PR.
My boss hired another guy through the same program, he is also a “slave” like me and we would spend some time during the day having fun and trying our best to create jokes out of the fucked up situation we were into. He is a Persian guy, have a wife and a little boy, and is struggling with the job, the pay and the harassment just like me.
When it comes to me and the Persian in that company WE HAVE NO CHOICE, if you don’t do what they tell you he will threaten to fire you and cancel your WP/VISA and that’s how he manipulates and controls us.
We both did more than 18 hours in one single day with just one 15 min stop for lunch! We got hurt and had to hide from any inspector, we had to work with HIPER UNSANITARY CONDITIONS (I had to buy my own respirator because they made me cut Quartz without it), we were not only being underpaid but also getting a cut on our paycheque, basically whatever he wants we need to do or else he fires us and cancels the visa. This kind of stuff eats you from the inside, little by little you start to act different, think different, you are not as confident as before and you see yourself slowly spiralling into fear, anxiety, depression and nothing but bad thoughts, whenever you have free time you don’t want even to exist.
August 2020 comes and I have enough points (and money) to apply for the Pr, nothing changed in my work and I still work long and fucked up hours, Persian guy is still there too.
I apply with my wife and we have to wait.
The wait was very frustrating (7.5months) and didn’t helped at all with my anxiety and depression, but there’s always sunshine after a storm and on March 25th I received my COPR and I can’t put into words the feeling, I was jumping inside the apartment like a little kid.
I called my wife to give the news and we both cried on the phone, I didn’t felt alive like that for a long time in my life.
Immigration was a hell of a ride.
Well now that you know the “basics” of my immigration, here is my new dilemma.
As I explained before my boss would extort me by taking money out of my paycheque every month, making my pay that was already low go even lower.
Now since I received the PR I told him I was leaving a d he is trying to DEMAND THAT I PAY A SUPPOSED BALANCE of my paycheques.
He’s asking for 3k!!!
Honestly my friends, after all I have been through... I’m not paying an illegal debt! I’m tired of this and now I am a free man. I should never even paid him any of this s*** that he demanded in the past, but as I said I was depressed, desperate and was afraid.
In your opinion what should I do?
Thank you for your time
If you guys need more information please let me know
