Over 700 Students Face Deportation From Canada Over Fake Admission Offers Letters

More than 700 Indian students in Canada face deportation after the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) discovered that their ‘admission offer letters’ to educational institutions were fakes.

These students applied for study visas through an Education Migration Services company based in Jalandhar.

The company had charged each student more than Rs 16 lakh for all expenses, including admission fees to Humber College, a prestigious Canadian institution, but excluding airfare and security deposits.

The fraud was discovered when these students applied for permanent residency in Canada and their admission offer letters were examined. CBSA examined the documents used to issue visas to students and discovered that the admission offer letters were fake.

According to experts, such a large-scale fraud was caused by a large number of applicants to Canada, and it is the first of its kind to come to light in Canada.

Details of the Fraud

The majority of these students had already completed their studies, obtained work permits, and gained work experience. They only got into trouble when they applied for permanent residency. Multiple factors are involved in such frauds, ranging from obtaining forged offer letters from colleges to providing forged fee payment receipts to students seeking visas.

In this case, most of the students were given offer letters from colleges where they did not eventually study after arriving in Canada. They were either transferred to other colleges or told to wait until the next semester, which was not the semester indicated in the documents when they applied for visas.

Several students claimed that their fees were returned to them by the agent, allowing them to enrol in other colleges but failing to notify the Canadian government. Returning the fee (by the agent) made the agent less suspicious.

The Role of Private Colleges

Another consultant told The Indian Express that in this case, the role of the colleges that issued the ‘admission offer letters’ must be investigated, specifically whether they were issued by the colleges or forged by the agent.

He also stated that such colleges’ involvement cannot be ruled out because most students are unaware of such things.

The student’s only option is to go to court and challenge the deportation notices, which could take up to four years.

Students thought the agent was very clever because he did not sign any applications. He (the agent) got everything signed by the students, so they became self-applicants. As a result, proving his (agent’s) involvement in this fraud has become difficult.

At the same time, proving the students’ innocence is difficult. But the truth is that all of the students are innocent, according to the students.

The Desperation of Students Being Capitalized by Fraudulent Agents

A Jalandhar-based student, who is among these 700 students, on the condition of anonymity, told The Indian Express that she has completed her diploma in computer science from a public college in Canada because, at the time of seeking a visa, she was given the offer letter of a private college.

But she insisted on getting admission to the public (government) college, and for that, her fee was returned by the agent, and he facilitated her to get entry to the new college. She said the consultant told her she could change her college after reaching Canada.

Several such cases exist wherein students change their college on reaching Canada after paying some commission to the agent. Students are mostly unaware of such things, and such desperation.

(Source: Indian Express)