Fake admission letters may see deportation of 700 Indian students from Canada

Jalandhar: The Canadian government has threatened to deport more than 700 Indian students after discovering that their 'admission offer letters' to universities were fake. Recently, they got letters from the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) ordering their deportation.

Media reports stated that Brijesh Mishra's Education Migration Services (located in Jalandhar) processed the application of the 700 students who had paid more than Rs 16 lakh for expenses that included admission fees to Humber College but excluded the air tickets and security deposits.

In 2018-19, these students studied in Canada. The fraud was discovered when these students applied for permanent residency (PR) in Canada, for which the 'admission offer letters' were scrutinized; that is, the CBSA examined the documents on which the visas were given to the students and discovered the 'admission offer letters' to be fake, the Indian Express reported.

According to experts, the majority of these students had already finished their studies, obtained work permits, and acquired work experience. It wasn't until they filed for PR that they got into trouble.

This education fraud is a first in Canada. According to experts, such a large fraud was caused by the large number of candidates in Canada.

A consultant based in Jalandhar who had been sending students to Canada for 10 years said that several factors are involved in such frauds like obtaining forged acceptance letters from colleges to giving students forged fee invoices because students can only obtain visas after paying the required fee to the colleges.

“In this case, most of the students were provided the offer letters of such colleges where they did not study eventually after landing in Canada. They were either shifted to other colleges or asked to wait for the next semester, that is, not in the semester which was shown in the documents at the time of applying for visas,” an established consultant from Kapurthala said, adding that there is a huge rush of Indian students to Canada and such desperation of students is being capitalised by some fraudulent agents by conniving with a Canada-based private college.

A student based in Jalandhar who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that she obtained a diploma in computer science from a Canadian public college because she was provided the offer letter of a private college when applying for a visa, but she insisted on enrolling in the public (government) college instead. The agent returned her fee as a result, and he helped her enrol in the new college. After arriving in Canada, she claimed the consultant informed her she could change colleges.

She claimed that there are numerous instances where students switch colleges after arriving in Canada and paying an agent's fee.

Many students claimed that because the agent in question returned their payment to them, they were able to enrol in other schools. However, they failed to inform the Canadian government of this change. Furthermore, the agent's return of the money reduced any remaining doubts about him.

Another consultant informed The Indian Express that in this situation, it was important to examine the part played by the colleges that had issued the "admission offer letters," specifically to determine whether the colleges had actually issued them or if the agent had forged them. He added that since most students are ignorant of such matters, the involvement of such colleges cannot be completely ruled out.

Several institutions in Montreal were earlier put on the blacklist by the Quebec government as they had a high rate of admission of international students, and the Indian High Commission advised students who took admission there to register a complaint with the ministry of higher education, the government of Quebec. The Canadian High Commission is now reportedly considering these pupils sympathetically after previously giving them a poor review, according to a consultant. The students' only choice, according to reports, is to appeal against the deportation notices in court, where the process could take up to four years.

Police Commissioner Jalandhar Kuldeep Singh Chahal said that currently there are no such complaints before him.

The student said that the agent was quite smart about the way he went forward with the fraud, as he made the students sign everything making them self-applicants while he himself did not sign any papers. Due to this, it is not easy to prove the agent's involvement as well as prove the innocence of the students. But the fact is that all of the students are innocent.