Students Facing Deportation Can Make Their Case, Promises Canada

CHANDIGARH, (IANS) – Believing that immigrant students, largely from Punjab, who have been facing deportation from Canada over a case of fake documents, are the victims of fraud, the country’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said they would put a process in place to allow them to prove that they were taken advantage of and provide an appropriate remedy for them.

During Question Hour at the House of Commons on June 12, Fraser reiterated that they were working on helping innocent students.

“I’m glad to share that we have been working hard as we discussed a week ago. We’re working to develop a process to ensure that the innocent students, who are the victims of fraud, have an opportunity to remain in Canada,” he said in response to a question from Jenny Kwan, a member of the opposition New Democratic Party.

Fraser added people who knowingly committed fraud or were complicit in the fraudulent scheme will bear the consequences of not following Canadian laws.

Acknowledging the mental health concerns of the affected students with the uncertainty they are facing, he said they will put a process in place to allow them to prove they were taken advantage of and provide a remedy for them.

The Canada Border Services Agency has issued deportation notices to students whose admission offer letters to educational institutions were found to be fake.

They filed visa applications from 2018 onwards till 2022 through Jalandhar-based Education Migration Services headed by Brijesh Mishra, who is on the run and has shut all his operations operating from Jalandhar. He is also accused of cheating students of tens of thousands of dollars.

Punjab-origin MP Sukh Dhaliwal said it is a network of immigration cheats, mainly based in Punjab and Delhi, who have colluded to cheat the Canadian system by getting the students admitted to a college on misrepresentation of facts and fraudulent details.

Later, they told the students that their admission to the college had been canceled due to a consultant’s disagreement with the college.

They further advised the student to get admitted to any other college since they have a study permit.

Lovepreet Singh, the first among the students to be deported on June 13, from Punjab’s Mohali is accused by Canadian authorities of obtaining a visa on a fraudulent admission letter for a Canadian university.

His deportation has now been stayed.

Social media has scores of stories about victims from India losing thousands of dollars to ghost or unauthorized consultants.