The Canadian government has threatened to deport more than 700 Indian students after discovering that their ‘admission offer letters’ to universities were bogus. Recently, they got letters from the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) ordering their deportation.
Who was behind this racket?
Media reports claim that Education Migration Services, run by Brijesh Mishra and based in Jalandhar, processed the study visa applications for these 700 students. Brijesh Mishra reportedly charged more than Rs 16 lakh per student for all costs, including the admission fee to the prestigious institution Humber College, but not for air travel or security deposits.
This fraud was discovered when these students sought permanent residency (PR) in Canada and the “admission offer letters” were scrutinised, that is when the CBSA examined the paperwork used to grant the students’ visas and discovered the “admission offer letters” to be fraudulent.
How is the issue raised?
On the condition of anonymity, a student from Jalandhar who is one of these 700 students expressed her thoughts that she received her diploma in computer science from a public college in Canada because, when applying for a visa, she was given an offer letter from a private college, but she insisted on enrolling in the public (government) college instead. The agent then returned her fee and helped her enrol in the new college. After arriving in Canada, she claimed the consultant told her she might change colleges.
What is the Canadian official’s stand on the case?
The CBSA declines to comment on specific instances. But it claimed that last year they unearthed a plan whereby “unsubsidised private college programmes were bringing foreign students to a post-graduation employment visa (for $25,000) with the sole purpose of securing permanent residency”.
“After this examination, the federal and provincial governments decided to strengthen the requirements for awarding post-graduation employment licences on June 7, 2022. 11 colleges that were connected to the fraud were the focus of the inquiry.
