Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has formed a task force to investigate the matter and has assured that those found innocent of fraud will not be deported
The Canadian authorities have stopped the deportation orders for approximately 700 Indian students who entered the country with forged admission letters. But that has not ended their woes since the final outcome for these students will depend on the results of an ongoing immigration inquiry. Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has formed a task force to investigate the matter and has assured that those found innocent of fraud will not be deported.
Among the approximately 320,000 Indian students in Canada, a significant majority hail from Punjab, and it is these who are facing deportation. Many of these students have been in Canada since 2017, and some have already completed their studies, indicating that admissions through forged letters have been occurring for quite some time. The decision to halt the deportations follows a successful appeal by student Lovepreet Singh, who managed to prevent his deportation on June 13. Singh, along with several other students, staged a 17-day protest before the deportation order was halted.
This scam has its origins in Punjab, where the desire to study in Canada makes students and their parents vulnerable to unscrupulous immigration agents. The scam also involves small, private colleges that have proliferated in major Canadian cities in recent years. These colleges predominantly offer courses in business management, hospitality, IT, healthcare, and social services.
“Starting a private college in Canada after obtaining provincial registration is very easy. Private colleges have become a means to make quick money, as they charge four times more in fees than public colleges. Punjabi students primarily study in these private colleges because few Canadian students enroll in them,” explained an Indian-origin private college owner in the Toronto area. “Admission agents based in Punjab have partnered with Canadian private colleges to enroll students. These colleges issue admission letters, based on which study visas are issued in India,” said Bikramjit Singh Kullewal of the Naujawan Support Network, which is providing assistance to the affected students.
Due to the high demand for admission letters in Punjab, it is suspected that immigration agents resorted to creating forged admission letters for these students. Alternatively, agents may have obtained more admission letters than the available seats in specific colleges by bribing individuals at Canadian private colleges.
The Canadian Immigration Minister’s comments may indicate that action will be taken against those who exploited study visas obtained through forged documents to come to Canada
The students realized their admission letters were fake upon arriving in Canada and attempting to enroll in their colleges. However, they chose to remain silent to avoid jeopardizing their immigration prospects. “Since Canadian study visas allow students to change colleges, many of them pursued this option after being informed by their colleges (to which they had applied from India) that they were not on their rolls due to fake admission letters. Why did these students remain quiet about their forged admission letters?” questioned an Indo-Canadian community activist in Brampton. The issue of forged admission letters only came to light when students applied for study permit extensions or permanent residence (PR).
It was then that the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) informed them that they had fraudulently gained admission to Canadian colleges using forged documents. Bikramjit Singh Kullewal said that the Naujawan Support Network had written to all political parties, urging an investigation into the role of immigration agents in India, private colleges in Canada, and the immigration authorities. “Why weren’t the admission papers of these students thoroughly scrutinized by immigration officers upon their arrival at Canadian airports?” he asked.
There are also reports that some students who arrive with forged admission letters never actually join their colleges. Instead, they allegedly bribe local trucking companies to obtain LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) documents, enabling them to work as foreign workers. This practice is said to be prevalent within the community. The Canadian Immigration Minister’s comments may indicate that action will be taken against those who exploited study visas obtained through forged documents to come to Canada. “It is a complex issue. Genuine students have been deceived, and we will fight for them,” asserted Kullewal, in a report based on IANS inputs.
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