Comparing a study permit route against paying for an LMIA-based work permit as a way into Canada, group members were united on one point: be very wary of LMIA offers arranged for a fee.
What members warned:- Most paid LMIA offers circulating outside formal, legitimate hiring processes are reported to be fraudulent. Multiple members flagged this bluntly — don't fall into what they called 'LMIA traps.'
- Members said they'd seen both people who successfully obtained a genuine LMIA and many more who were defrauded paying for one that never materialized into a real work permit.
- A study permit was seen as the more reliable route by members who'd run the numbers and gathered experiences from others — even though it requires similar upfront investment, it results in a real credential and a clearer, harder-to-fake pathway compared to a paid, informal LMIA arrangement.
Takeaway: if someone is offering to arrange an LMIA for a fee outside a normal job-search/employer relationship, treat it as a high fraud-risk proposition — members' strong consensus was that the study route, while not risk-free, is the more dependable of the two for someone without an existing genuine employer relationship.