Ottawa, Ontario – The Honourable Minister Fraser, alongside Ruby Sahota, Member of Parliament for Brampton North and Federal Liberal colleagues, issued a statement on Thursday regarding the international students and graduates who are facing removal from Canada due to fraudulent acceptance letters that were submitted as part of their study permit applications.
IRCC has assigned a taskforce of immigration officials who will work closely with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to identify the victims of fraud. If it is determined that an individual had the clear & genuine intent to study as an international student in Canada, officers have been instructed to issue a Temporary Resident Permit to that individual so they can stay in Canada. Providing Temporary Resident Permit will ensure that these well-intentioned students and graduates can remain in Canada and ensure that they are not subject to the 5-year ban from re-entering Canada that normally follows in cases of misrepresentation. These will be issued only when required to those currently under review to prevent deportation.
“The focus remains on carefully identifying those who are complicit & involved in fraudulent activity, from those who are genuine victims of immigration fraud and had a clear intent to study. I have had multiple meetings with some of these victims, and it’s clear that many of these international students sincerely came to Canada in pursuit of higher education and were cheated by fraudulent consultants who claimed to be helping them in their immigration application process. They should not and will not be subject to penalties or deportation.
International students provide greatly to Canada, and we will ensure they are supported and treated with compassion and integrity,” said MP Sahota. Moving forward to prevent incidences like these from occurring, IRCC has been working closely with Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs), provinces and territories, and organizations representing Canada’s colleges and universities to better detect and combat fraud proactively and crack down on illegal practices by bad actors.
