Duped & Fearing Deportation: The Plight of 700 Indian Students in Canada

Indian students, who entered on student visas, now face deportation from Canada over fake admission offer letters.

Close to 700 Indian students, majority from Punjab, who entered Canada on student visas, now stare at imminent deportation after authorities found their college admission offers were bogus.

(Photo: Made using Midjourney, directed by Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

Close to 700 Indian students, a majority of them from Punjab, who entered Canada on student visas, now stare at imminent deportation after authorities found that their college admission offers were bogus.

Hundreds of Indian students, mainly from Punjab, have gathered outside the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) headquarters in protest against the deportations since 29 May, and have initiated an "indefinite sit-in" to express their opposition.

The students have argued that it would be a grave injustice to be expelled from the country where they completed their studies, worked for multiple years, and lived legally.

What Is the Fake Admission Letter Case?

Many students who wish to study abroad choose to work with an agency providing them with academic documents, IELTS certificates, and financial records to help them apply for a student visa and make choices regarding universities.

These agencies further compile a comprehensive report detailing the students' preferences for educational institutions and courses, considering their requirements.

They also provide recommendations for universities and academic programmes, considering that most students prefer public universities and only some opt for prestigious private institutions. Subsequently, the consultants handle the application process on behalf of the students, submitting applications to their desired colleges.

Once an offer letter is obtained from the university (which, in this case, was illegitimate), the student must pay a fee. The agent then transfers it to the college. In return, the student receives a letter of acceptance (which was forged) and a fee deposit receipt (was also forged) from the college.

A report from The Indian Express said that most students came to Canada after a Jalandhar-based agent, Brijesh Mishra, provided admission offer letters to them. Mishra, who led a firm called Education Migration Services, is currently missing and faces a police case.

Mishra would charge the students lakhs of rupees to process their documents and procure offer letters for the students in question, who were asked to change colleges after landing in Canada for bogus reasons.

The report further quotes an affected student from Jalandhar, who said:

“When I reached Canada in 2018, my agent, who had charged me around Rs 16 lakh, called me and asked me to enroll in another college because all the seats were filled in the college for which I had received the admission letter. He returned some of my money and helped me secure admission in another college, where I pursued my studies."

"I never suspected his intentions until I received a deportation letter from CBSA, revealing that the admission letter on which I obtained my visa was fake," she added.

It should be noted that the letters managed to evade the scrutiny of the Canadian Embassy staff. According to experts cited in The Indian Express, it is essential for Canadian Embassy personnel to thoroughly examine all relevant documents, including college offer letters, before granting a visa.

Furthermore, in Canada, students are allowed to change colleges after arriving in the country. As a result, the agent informed the students that their admission to a specific college had been cancelled or suggested that another college may be a better fit for them. This allowed the agent to manoeuvre the situation and facilitate the switch to a different educational institution.

What Did Authorities on Both Sides Say?

Punjab's Minister of NRI Affairs Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal requested the assistance of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and in a letter, said:

"These (700) students are innocent and have been cheated by the clique of fraudsters. I shall be highly grateful if you again look into the matter personally and take up the matter with concerned agencies including the High Commission of Canada and the government of Canada so that these students can be saved from being deported."

During a press conference on the completion of nine years of the PM Narendra Modi-led government, Jaishankar addressed the incident and said that Indian students in Canada facing deportation due to fraudulent admissions should not be penalised for someone else's crime.

“The culpable parties should be punished. The latest report is that Canadians accept that it would be unfair if the student has done no wrong, they accept the idea that they have to find a solution to it. I feel the Canadian system is fair in that regard...We will continue to press,” he said.

Recently, Sean Fraser, the minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, acknowledged the significant contributions that international students make to Canada, and also expressed the government's commitment to assisting victims of fraud, while stating that each case would be evaluated.

What Next? 

The all-party immigration committee voted unanimously to request the border agency to waive the inadmissibility of the affected students.

The committee has also proposed offering them an alternative pathway to permanent residence based on humanitarian grounds or through a "regularisation" programme.

MP Jenny Kwan, the NDP immigration critic who introduced the motions, expressed her concern for the students' plight and described their current situation as "terrible".

"They’ve lost money and they are stuck in a terrible situation. And some of them have deportation orders. Others have pending meetings with CBSA,” said Canadian MP Jenny Kwan.

One student, Kramjit Kaur from Punjab, had initially been ordered to leave Canada by 29 May, but her expulsion orders were temporarily halted just in time. Another student, Lovepreet Singh from Punjab's Mohali, has been instructed to leave the country by 13 June, and he is presently challenging his case in court, looking to contest the deportation order.

While the license of Brijesh Mishra's agency has been revoked, a case has been filed against him and two others by the Jalandhar Police.

Authorities are also investigating the involvement of the Canadian embassy officials who granted visas based on these fraudulent letters. Their role in the process is under scrutiny as part of the ongoing investigation.