Hundreds of students in Canada face deportation over fraud admissions

Hundreds of international students from India who came to study in Canada are facing deportation after their university acceptance letters were found to be forgeries. 

As many as 700 students could be facing deportation according to Toronto Star reporter Nicholas Keung, though that number could not be independently verified by The Star. 

“Indian media outlets here and abroad have reported that many international students are facing deportation from Canada to India after their admission letters, procured through the same overseas agency, were found to be not genuine,” Keung wrote. 

According to a report from The Indian Express, a Jalahandar-based immigration firm was responsible for forging admissions offer letters to get their applicants into Canada. 

Education Migration Services, a business headed by Brijesh Mishra, charged students on average $26,000 Canadian dollars per student per study application. 

The students affected had gone to study in Canada between 2018 and 2019 and have just only now found out that they were never legally eligible to enter Canada. 

The fraud was discovered after several students began applying for permanent residency and border service agents discovered that the documents their student visas were based on had turned out to be forgeries according to The Indian Express. 

"I didn't do anything wrong," Karaneever Singh, one of the students affected by the forgery, explained to The Fifth Estate, according to Global News. "I was defrauded by my agent."

The 24-year-old student from Pradesh told The Fifth Estate that he had come to Canada in search of a better life to support his family, but now he is facing deportation.

“I didn't know that a fake document was used in my student visa application," Karaneever said as he explained what happened to him. 

"It wasn't until after I received that notice from the [Canada Border Services Agency] that I found the letter was fraudulent," Global News Quoted Karaneever as saying. 

Photo by Twitter @CanBorder

On March 17th, Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser addressed the forgery reports and said his ministry was putting measures in place to deal with the problem. 

“Every once in a while, you do see bad actors, particularly from other parts of the world, who are difficult to police from Canada, who seek to take advantage of international students,” Fraser said. “It’s disgusting to see the behavior of some of the promoters.”

“With respect to the reports we’ve seen, we have some work to do to understand precisely what’s going on before we can understand what the appropriate solution may be,” Canada’s Immigration Minister added.

Canada Border Services Agency has yet to say if the students duped by Education Migration Services will be allowed to stay in Canada, but some are pushing for leniency. 

Matthew McDonald is a licensed immigration consultant who spoke with The Toronto Star about the situation and explained his thoughts on what happened. 

“It’s unfortunate that if these people are being removed when immigration and border officers were not able to previously verify the fraud,” McDonald told The Star.

“It seems cruel to punish these people who also seem to be taken advantage of when the fraudulent documents were not caught,” McDonald added.