After visa fraud, Canada to verify ‘acceptance letter’ of Indian students

As per the new rules, institutions will be required to confirm every applicant’s letter of acceptance directly with IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada). This enhanced verification will protect students from ‘letter of acceptance’ fraud and to help them avoid similar problems that some students had faced earlier this year, Miller said.

More than 700 college students from India are currently facing deportation from Canada after their college acceptance letters — which were used to apply for Canadian study visas almost four years ago — were found to be fake. The issue first came to light in March this year after several students in Canada applied for permanent residency after completing their studies and the Canadian border agency discovered that their documents were fake. After New Delhi raised the issue with Ottawa, the Canadian government put the deportations of students on hold.

In June, following investigations into fraudulent admissions letters, an IRCC taskforce was formed to work with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to review the cases of affected students and graduates. Consequently, the CBSA charged Indian citizen Brijesh Mishra for immigration-related offences, who was identified by victims as one of the central figures involved in defrauding students. Earlier this month, CBSA reviewed 103 cases, of which only 63 were found to be genuine.

This comes as a relief in the wake of India’s recent diplomatic spat with Canada over the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, wherein Canada had withdrawn visa and consular services from Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bengaluru, posing a significant hurdle for students getting ready to enrol in universities for the winter session starting January next year.

Subsequently, Canada has also put on record that with respect to the 38,000 visas that IRCC was expecting to process by December, the department will only be able to process 20,000. Earlier this week, Delhi had also moved to reduce tensions between the two countries by restoring visa services in some categories — entry visa, business visa, medical visa, and conference visa.

Ahead of the fall 2024 semester, IRCC will also adopt a “recognized institution” framework to enable priority processing of study permits for applicants who plan to attend their school.

Canada will also conduct a review of the popular Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), for the first time in 10 years, and announce reforms soon. Canada said the goal of their latest move is to prevent genuine students from facing deportation. “We will be able to better select and retain those students that are best suited to meet the needs of Canada’s economy and immigration goals,” Miller said.

Indian students now study in 240 countries, according to the Ministry of External Affairs data. However, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the US remain the top choices.