International Students

B.C. man among scores of international students facing deportation in suspected immigration scam

Recently, the NDP MP for Vancouver East, Jenny Kwan, moved a motion at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration calling for deportations to be stayed, inadmissibility to be waived, and the affected students worked with to move them toward permanent residency.  "We need to do everything we can for the genuine victims of this fraud scam for them to be made whole," said Kwan.

A second motion has called on the government to conduct a study on how this scam occurred and how the government and the CBSA failed to catch the fraudulent documents when they were first submitted as part of the visa application process.

During house debates on Monday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said his team is working to develop a process to allow legitimate victims of fraud to stay in Canada.
"However, to the extent that people committed fraud or were complicit in a fraudulent scheme, they will bear the consequences of not following Canadian laws," he said.

HANSARD: Will the minister grant these international students a pathway to permanent residency?

CBC: He came to Canada with a college acceptance in hand. Next week, he's scheduled for deportation

Jenny Kwan, the NDP's federal critic for Housing, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, has taken up Singh's case. Kwan says she believes he was a victim of fraud and says the number of students she's heard from who were impacted by similar practices is growing – though she did not provide the exact number of students she's spoken to.

On Wednesday night, the federal committee on immigration passed a motion calling for pending deportations to be stayed, according to a tweet Kwan posted. The committee will also begin a study into "the targeted exploitation scheme faced by 700 Punjabi international students," the motion reads.

Next, the committee will invite Sean Fraser, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Public Safety of Canada, as well as departmental officials, to attend the committee and provide a briefing on the situation, Kwan said. Then the committee will make recommendations to the government.

"It is so unbelievable that you have these unscrupulous immigration consultants taking advantage of people," Kwan said in an interview with CBC Toronto.

"Not only taking their money and not delivering what they said they would, but also destroying peoples lives and dreams."

CIMM#70 - 3: Debating Bill S-245 and Motion on International Students

"I, too, would like to thank the staff, particularly for their patience and endurance with this bill.

Now I'd like to move two motions, Madam Chair. I will move them one by one. I'll let the first one be dealt with first, and then when we've finished with that, if you can come to back to me, Madam Chair, I'll move my second motion.

My first motion is:

That, following news reports that international students admitted into Canada with valid study permits were issued fraudulent college acceptance letters by immigration consultants, and are now facing deportation, the committee issue a news release to condemn the actions of these fraudulent “ghost consultants” and call on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately stay pending deportations of affected international students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation and provide an alternate pathway to permanent status for those impacted, such as the humanitarian and compassionate application process or a broad regularization program.

Madam Chair, I'd like to move this motion first. I think it is important that this motion be adopted by the committee.

As mentioned previously, this is an issue that I wrote to the minister about, long before this matter became a topic for this committee. I called for him to take action in raising the concerns of how these students have been victims of this fraudulent scheme. The measures we need the government to take are staying the deportations; waiving inadmissibility based on misrepresentation by the fraudulent, ghost consultants in submitting doctored admissions letters, unbeknownst to the students; and then, finally, giving the students a permit pathway.

As we know, when students are faced with the issue of inadmissibility, it stays on their record for five years. That applies to all immigration pathways, so this is very significant to their future.

These students—I've met with many of them now—are in such a terrible state. They've lost money, and they are stuck in a terrible situation. Some of them have deportation orders. Others have pending meetings with the CBSA.”

CIM#70 - 1: Debating Bill S-245 and Motion on International Students

"Before we get into Bill S-245, I would like to first put on notice the following motion:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee undertake a study into the targeted exploitation scheme faced by 700 Punjabi international students in which they were unknowingly defrauded by a “ghost” immigration consultant who used inauthentic admission letters for their student visa application; that this study be comprised of two meetings; and that the study consider:

a) how the situation was allowed to happen;

b) why fraudulent documents were not detected until years later when the students began to apply for permanent status;

c) the significant harm experienced by students including financial loss and distress;

d) measures necessary to help the students to have their deportation stayed, inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation waived, and provide a pathway to permanent status; and

e) that the committee also examine how to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

I'm putting this motion on notice, Madam Chair. I fully understand the precedence of the order is for us to finish Bill S-245, for bills to be dealt with. Then we can entertain other studies, so I've put that forward.

The other thing I want to note, Madam Chair, is that, at the end of the meeting today, I would like to move the following motion. The language is as follows—“

"Yes, I just want to let folks know so that they can anticipate this.

The motion would read:

That, following news reports that international students admitted into Canada with valid study permits were issued fraudulent college acceptance letters by immigration consultants, and are now facing deportation, the committee issue a news release to condemn the actions of these fraudulent 'ghost consultants' and call on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately stay pending deportations of affected international students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation and provide an alternate pathway to permanent status for those impacted, such as the Humanitarian and Compassionate application process or a broad regularization program.

I just want to let people know that it is my intention to move that motion at the end of the meeting today, assuming we can finish Bill S-245.”

CIMM#67: Debating Bill S-245 and discussing the issue of international students

"Not to belabour this point, but I hope this will give some comfort to committee members and to the public. On the issue of the 700 international students who have been mistreated by bad actors with ghost consultants, I wrote a letter to the minister about that early last week, to call on the government to take action, especially in terms of staying the deportation of these students and finding a permanent pathway for the students, whether that be through an H and C application process or a regularization process.

That's something I am working on actively with the minister's office, and I am hopeful that this will be addressed. That's definitely a big concern for people, and rightfully so.”

"I actually have a new NDP-8 to move. The new NDP-8 essentially collapses all the subamendments, the three subamendments from the government side, into one. That new NDP-8 is being shared with the clerk for distribution, and I will quickly talk a bit about what it does.

Effectively, NDP-8 ensures that the new connection test is also able to be applied to children adopted from abroad, and it also addresses what happens if the child is born before the death of the parent who must meet the connection test. How this new NDP-8 would differ from the previous one is that it does remove the grandparents component piece, so this is different in the sense that it—"

OPEN LETTER: Defrauded International Students

As the NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, I am writing again regarding the concerning situation of international students who were defrauded by ghost immigration consultants.

I am pleased that the government has listened to the NDP and committed to halt deportation orders. I am also glad to learn that the government will provide preliminary temporary resident permits if they are required, while the newly established task force works to investigate the situation and identify victims of fraud.

While these are steps in the right direction as an interim measure, this is not a sufficient long-term solution.

OPEN LETTER: International students facing deportation order

As the NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I am writing to you with urgency regarding the situation of 700 Punjabi International students who are the victims of a targeted exploitation scheme.
These students find themselves in a devastating situation through no fault of their own, as they were unknowingly provided inauthentic admission letters. According to reports, the students applied for visas through a consulting company which has since been closed. The issue only came to light when the students applied for Permanent Residency.

I have been informed that there are currently over 150 of these students who now have a deportation order dated for next week on May 29th.

Some of these students have already spent half a decade living in Canada and paid international tuition fees to complete their studies. Many are now working in essential frontline jobs. These students should not be punished for the actions of a fraudulent agent. It would be unjust and harmful to deport the students whose lives are now established in Canada.