New task force will probe college enrollment scam on international students – National | 24CA News
A joint job pressure, made up of senior immigration and border safety officers, will probe particular person circumstances of worldwide college students who fell sufferer to a fraudulent acceptance letters rip-off, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser advised media Wednesday.
Any pending removing orders in opposition to college students will likely be halted whereas particular person circumstances are examined.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament Hill forward of query interval on Wednesday, Fraser stated the officers from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will likely be “likely at the ADM (assistant deputy minister) level.”
Members of each companies could have their work reduce out for them, with experiences of probably tons of of worldwide college students impacted.
Fraser stated CBSA will determine the people who’ve removing orders in opposition to them for getting into Canada on faux admission letters, allegedly fraudulently equipped with out their information by an immigration marketing consultant in India.
IRCC members will dig into their information to find out whether or not they’re victims or accomplices within the rip-off.
“This task force will be required to carry out a case-by-case analysis of every individual case that is the subject of a removal order on the basis of fraudulent letters of acceptance,” Fraser stated.
“In the interim, and this is particularly important for students who find themselves in this position, any pending removals will be halted and there will be a temporary permission to stay over the course of this period of consideration.”
According to a press launch issued final week by advocates on behalf of the scholars, these now dealing with deportation orders got here to Canada in 2017 and 2018 on pupil permits.
The press launch says the scholars have been issued “fake college admission letters drafted by their immigration consultants, namely a Jalandhar-based consultant named Brijesh Mishra.”
“After landing in Canada, the consultants told students that they could not enroll in that particular college for various reasons, such as deferral or unavailability of seats. The students were told to change colleges, which they did in order to begin their studies,” the press launch states.
“Over the last five to six years, most of the students have completed their studies, entered the workforce, started families and have applied for permanent residency (PR). They were unaware of the fake offer letters until they began applying for PR.”
Fraser stated the Canadian authorities will guarantee that harmless victims of the rip-off are usually not penalized.
“The task force will consider particular factors, including whether a person completed their study, including their level of knowledge of any fraudulent scheme that may have underpinned their application,” he stated.
“And those who are found not to have had knowledge and have been found to have been genuine applicants to the student program will be given permission to stay in Canada for a period of a few years, so they can either complete their studies or potentially remain in Canada and work over the next few years.”
Mishra, the immigration marketing consultant cited within the press launch, allegedly charged these college students 1000’s of {dollars} and is claimed to be behind the faux admission letters. Mishra’s firm is now closed and he has reportedly not been seen for a number of months.
While some sections of the Indian media reported that the variety of worldwide college students who fell sufferer to this rip-off was near 700, Fraser stated the quantity was “in the dozens, not hundreds.”
He added, nonetheless, that the variety of bad-faith actors making an attempt to benefit from Canada’s immigration system was “in the thousands.”
He stated this was why the Canadian authorities was working to ascertain a stronger system to raised detect fraud on the subject of letters of acceptance.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
