Canada is prepared to deport 700 Indian students after officials discovered fake college admission letters that were used to study and remain in the North American nation,
The majority of the students, who entered Canada through a Punjab-based migration services organisation, received deportation letters from the Canadian Border Security Agency, local Indian media said.
The fake documents became apparent when the students started making applications for permanent residency in Canada. During the procedure, the legitimacy of the college admission letters was checked by the immigration officials, and they discovered they were counterfeit.
According to reports, the majority of the students who are currently being deported completed their schooling, filed for and were granted a work permit, and accumulated the necessary work experience to submit an application for permanent residency.
The Education Migration Services company in Jalandhar, Punjab, processed the study visa applications for all 700 of the students who received the deportation notice after they completed grade 12.
The Indian Express reported that Brijesh Mishra is the head of the consultancy service for migration through education, which charged each student almost $20,000 (INR 1,600,000) for migration-related costs, including admission to Humber College.
The airline fare, which on the low end can cost $1,600 (INR 135,000) for one-way travel, and the security deposits, which were not included in this price, are additional expenses. Media sources claim that between 2018 and 2019, a Canadian study visa was issued on the basis of a now-identified forgery of a college admission letter.
The Times of India (TOI), citing the accounts of several of the conned students, claimed that Mishra unexpectedly informed the students after they arrived in Canada that their college would be switching from Humber to a lesser-known university.
The trusting students enrolled in a two-year diploma programme at a different college after Mishra refunded their tuition from the more expensive Humber charge.
According to the TOI report, Mishra, who is accused of carrying out the intricate fraud, did not sign any paperwork, including the visa applications. Since the records did not specify the existence of an agency-led application, the students were accused of forging the paperwork themselves.
According to the report, the notices were sent out after giving the students a chance to request a hearing. The students have not been subject to any financial penalty in addition to their deportation. The students have the option to dispute the deportation claim, but the process may take three to four years and require the hire of pricey attorneys, according to TOI.
According to a recent TIE report, the police conducted a raid on Mishra’s business more than ten years ago. He was taken into custody in 2013 after using forged paperwork to send students abroad.
He was operating through a company called Easy Way Immigration Consultancy at the time as another immigration business. The company’s website is no longer online, and Mishra has apparently not been seen there in a few months.
Why the fabricated documents were first overlooked by the immigration service at the time of the study visa application is still a question.
Several Indian students choose to move to Canada for educational purposes or to fill open positions that cannot be satisfactorily filled by the local population. Migration to the North American country is further encouraged by its comparably lenient migration policy, which is similar to those of Australia.
Indians from the middle class have always looked abroad for opportunities. But as the economy continues to deteriorate, families from less developed rural areas are being forced to make significant financial commitments to establish new lives abroad. The migration is happening, despite the initial higher expenditures of studying and living in places like Canada and Australia.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 163,370 Indians gave up their citizenship in total in 2021, and 225,620 in 2022. According to the data, the US submitted 78,284 petitions to renounce Indian citizenship, followed by Australia with 23,533 and Canada with 21,597.
