The 11th client

 

In November 2023, after Adrian’s brother and Dr. Lishi’s brother applied for a Canadian work visa, they visited the Singara Pub along with their respective wives. Mervin had requested to meet them at the pub. Siva and his wife arrived at the meeting with certain agreements, which I signed as a guarantor.
After our discussion, they left the meeting in good spirits and proceeded to deposit the initial amount into my account.
Mervin introduced a unique scheme: candidates would pay only a minimal amount while in Sri Lanka, and the remaining fees would be deducted from their salary after they begin work in Canada. This approach impressed many candidates, and I recommended the scheme to some of my colleagues, who also expressed interest in applying.
By mid-2024, several families—Jana and family, Prathana and family, Menan, Nisha Miss and family, Sujeewa Miss and her daughter—had applied for work permits along with their respective family members. Mervin initially collected a small amount for processing and documentation, which seemed reasonable. However, he later began requesting money for various other purposes, which irritated the candidates. Eventually, they began complaining—not only about the escalating costs but also about the delay in issuing offer letters.
When I inquired about this, Mervin casually responded that the offer letters would arrive soon and insisted that the candidates needed to pay for lawyer fees and tickets. I found this confusing, as I was under the impression that the sponsors or employers typically cover such expenses. He then claimed the cost of obtaining a work permit had risen to 90 lakhs. I didn’t argue further, assuming he knew what he was doing as a visa consultant.

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