Brijesh Mishra has been charged by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) in relation to the fraud of 700 foreign students from India. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) plays a key role in ensuring the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. The CBSA had announced that charges have been laid against Brijesh Mishra, a citizen of India, for immigration-related offenses.
Foreign national students seeking to study in Canada require letters of acceptance from recognized post-secondary institutions to qualify for a student permit. According to CIC news, the accusations are the result of the finding that 700 Indian students received fake admissions letters from Canadian universities. After the students, many of whom had arrived in 2018–2019 and had already finished their courses and had Canadian work experience, applied for permanent residency in Canada, CBSA officers learned of the scam.
CIC News report says that the Education Migration Services organization, with offices in Jalandhar, India, had received applications from all of the students for study visas. Mishra, the company’s owner, charged the students thousands of dollars for assistance with their college applications and visa requests. The company’s office has now closed, and up until recently, Mishra was untraceable.
700 Indian students are facing deportation from Canada after the federal government determined that the Letters of Admission (LOAs) they used to enter the country were fraudulent. LOAs are granted by Canadian Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) that are government-accredited to accept international students. Prospective international students with a LOA can apply to IRCC for study permits in order to move to Canada. According to reports, the LOAs were fabricated by an unethical immigration consultant in India who charged the students a fee to assist them in studying in Canada and has since vanished. The students claim they were not aware of the consultant’s deception.
Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) had earlier ensured that international students who did not know about or participate in the fraud will not be deported because they do not deserve to leave Canada.