Every week, families from small towns across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and several other states make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives — investing their savings into an overseas work permit for a son or daughter who dreams of earning abroad.
For many of them, it does not end well. Immigration lawyers and counselors working with overseas employment cases say they are witnessing a steady rise in complaints from middle-class families — particularly those in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities — who have paid large sums to unverified agents for work permits that either never materialised or led to exploitative conditions abroad.
“The pattern is almost always the same,” said Advocate Richa Dhanda, Legal and Immigration Law Advisor at Madhav Immigration Pvt. Ltd., a government-approved immigration consultancy serving clients across India. “A young candidate approaches an agent who promises a work permit for Canada, the UK, or Australia. Fees are collected upfront. The documentation looks official. And then either the process drags endlessly or the candidate reaches abroad to find the job bears no resemblance to what was promised.”
According to Advocate Dhanda, the root cause is not merely fraudulent agents — it is a widespread lack of awareness about how legitimate processes actually function. Many candidates are unaware that for average profiles — 1 0th pass, 1 2th pass, or basic graduates — direct entry pathways to countries like Canada carry requirements far beyond what most middle-class applicants can meet. This gap is precisely what fraudulent operators exploit. What frustrates legal experts most is how preventable these losses are. “Two checks — both free, both possible from a mobile phone — can protect most families,” Advocate Dhanda said. “First, search the agency on the MCA Portal at mca.gov.in. A genuine consultancy will appear as an active Private Limited company with a CIN number. Second, verify their GST registration at gst.gov.in. An agency that cannot provide these two numbers should never receive your money.”
Madhav Immigration Pvt. Ltd., which has been working in the immigration sector since 2013 and serves clients from across India including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Delhi NCR, has observed that several countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region offer legally structured, accessible work permit pathways for unskilled and semi-skilled workers — particularly in hospitality, construction, and manufacturing — yet these options receive far less attention than premium Western destinations.
“Families invest years of savings based on incomplete information,” Advocate Dhanda noted. “A work permit processed through a verified employer and a legitimate consultancy in countries like Malta, Cyprus, or Mauritius can be more accessible, more legally sound, and more growth-oriented than a so-called guaranteed Canada offer that costs twice as much and carries ten times the risk.”
“The families most at risk are those who can least afford to lose,” she added. “A wrong decision here does not just mean lost money. It means lost years.”
