Indian man charged for alleged role in international student admissions scam | 24CA News
Canadian authorities on Friday charged an Indian man for allegedly issuing fraudulent college letters of acceptance to Indian college students and different immigration-related felony offenses.
Brijesh Mishra, a citizen of India, is dealing with 5 fees underneath the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) mentioned in an announcement.
CBSA mentioned it launched an investigation after receiving details about Mishra’s standing in Canada and his alleged involvement in actions associated to “counseling misrepresentation.”
Canada is a well-liked vacation spot for worldwide college students since it’s comparatively straightforward to acquire a piece allow. Official knowledge present there have been greater than 800,000 international college students with energetic visas in Canada in 2022, together with some 320,000 from India.
According to a press launch issued by advocates on behalf of the scholars, those that had been dealing with deportation orders got here to Canada in 2017 and 2018 on pupil permits.
According to a press launch issued by advocates on behalf of tons of of scholars who had been dealing with deportation over the fraudulent letters, the scholars had been issued “fake college admission letters drafted by their immigration consultants, namely a Jalandhar-based consultant named Brijesh Mishra” when coming to Canada in 2017 and 2018 on pupil permits.
“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.”
Last week, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser introduced a freeze on the deliberate deportation of dozens of scholars who entered the nation utilizing fraudulent college letters.
He additionally introduced a brand new joint job pressure, made up of senior immigration and border safety officers, will probe particular person instances of scholars who fell sufferer to the rip-off.
“Our government is taking action against those who are responsible for fraud, while protecting those who’ve come here to pursue their studies,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
The college students aren’t being charged or accused of crimes. But among the college students who had mounted a weeks-long protest at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport over the problem mentioned they proceed to have questions and considerations that the “government is placing the burden on students to prove that they were not complicit in fraud.”
Reacting to news of the duty pressure, advocates mentioned they fear the method “presumes students are guilty unless they prove otherwise, which is the opposite of how the legal system normally works.”
—With information from Global News
