Once their college entrance offer letters, on which they had entered the nation three to four years prior on a study visa, were discovered to be false, more than 700 Indians living in Canada now risk being deported. Their agent Brijesh Mishra, who assisted their admittance into other universities once they arrived in Canada, is accused of forging the offer letters. The pupils then completed their education and found employment. The Canadian Border Security Agency identified the fraudulent letters after they sought for permanent residency, which is when the crime was discovered.
Mishra, who is presently missing, headed a firm called Education Migration Services in Jalandhar, and charged each student lakhs of rupees to file their credentials.
Many students engage an agency or consulting company while applying for a study visa after Class 12. They give the agent their academic credentials, IELTS certificate, and financial records. Based on this, the consultant creates a dossier in which the students specify their preferred educational institutions and programmes. The consulting firm offers suggestions for choosing institutions and courses as well.
The majority of students favour public universities and a few elite private ones.
The consultant subsequently submits applications to the target colleges on behalf of the kids. The student must pay a deposit fee after receiving an offer letter from the college. The agent then pays the college on their behalf, and the student receives a letter of acceptance (LoA) and a receipt for the fee deposit. Also, students must get a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC), which includes a one-year advance payment and covers living expenses.
Students must submit these documents along with an online application for a visa before the embassy will either approve or deny their request.
The state government registers consultants and agents who assist students. Those who operate in the industry told The Indian Express that because students typically trust their agents, they do not verify the validity of the offer letter.
The agent simply informed them that their admission to a particular college had “fallen through” or that another college could be a better fit for them because Canada permits students to switch colleges after arriving in the country.
Before awarding a visa, officials from the Canadian Embassy are advised to carefully review all the attachments, including the acceptance letters from institutions.
Two main reasons were given by experts for this.
Mishra must have known that offer letters from respected institutions are not closely scrutinised, according to an educational adviser who has been sending students to Canada for more than ten years. Yet, the consultant found it strange that so many offer letters from one college were disregarded at the embassy level, where careful consideration is given before granting a visa.
As comparison to other private colleges, he added, “the second reason is that if a particular college is quite reputable, an offer letter from it enhances the visa success rate.
The misled students informed Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) of their decision to transfer institutions after arriving in Canada, along with the information required by Designated Learning Institute (DLI), their ID number, and the name of the new college.
