Canada announces new measures to protect international students from fraud

The Canadian Government has announced reforms in its process of intake of international students after earlier this year several, mainly from India, were found to have used fake documents to gain admission to the country.

At an event in Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA, Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced plans to implement several measures aimed at strengthening Canada’s International Student Program and better protecting genuine students from fraud.

The principal among them is that unlike earlier, post-secondary designated learning institutions or DLIs will be required to confirm every applicant’s letter of acceptance directly with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC. “This new, enhanced verification process aims to protect prospective students from letter‑of‑acceptance fraud and to help them avoid similar problems that some students faced earlier this year as a result of fraud investigations. It will also ensure that study permits are issued based only on genuine letters of acceptance,” a release from IRCC said. This system will be put in place beginning December 1.

Also, starting from the fall 2024 semester, IRCC will adopt a “recognized institution” framework to benefit post-secondary DLIs that set a higher standard for services, support and outcomes for international students. “These DLIs will benefit, for example, from the priority processing of study permits for applicants who plan to attend their school,” the statement added.

“Through these measures, we are taking action against nefarious actors who have preyed on genuine students for financial gain by identifying every fraudulent letter of acceptance soon after it is submitted,” IRCC said.

“International students are talented, bright and deserving of a positive experience as they pursue their studies in Canada. We will continue to improve Canada’s International Student Program by protecting students and weeding out those who try to take advantage of them,” Miller said.

The release also said that IRCC taskforce was formed to work with the Canada Border Services Agency or CBSA to review the cases of students and graduates affected by fake documents. The goal of this review was to prevent genuine students from facing removal from Canada. If found that of the 103 cases reviewed by October 12, 63 were found to be genuine students and 40 were not.

Earlier this year, several ex-students from India, mainly Punjab, faced deportation from Canada as the documents they had used to enter the country were found to be forged. These students arrived in Canada between 2017 and 2019, and in rare instances, in 2020. They started receiving notices from the CBSA in 2021 and last year, for a hearing as the agency concluded the letter of offer of admission to a Canadian higher education institution, which formed the basis of their study permits, was “fake.” Agents in India used fraudulent documentation to procure study permits for them and they started receiving notices from immigration authorities late last year once these were detected. The majority of the affected students were represented by the agent Brijesh Mishra of the Jalandhar-based counselling firm EMSA Education and Migration Services Australia, but others were also involved.

Mishra, who was found to be in Canada, was taken into custody and charged by authorities in June this year. He remains in a holding facility in Vancouver.

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