1. Around 700 Indian students in Canada are facing deportation due to a case involving fake college admission offer letters.
2. Most of the affected students are from Punjab and claim they were defrauded by their immigration agent.
3. The students were sent to Canada with forged admission offer letters, which they later discovered to be fake.
4. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Indian High Commission in Canada have assured support to the affected students.
5. Punjab Minister of NRI Affairs sought Jaishankar’s intervention, highlighting the students’ victimization.
6. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has assured individual evaluation of each deportation case.
7. The students organized an indefinite sit-in protest outside the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) headquarters.
8. They argue that being expelled from the country after completing their studies and working for five years would be unjust.
9. The students arrived in Canada on study visas between 2017 and 2018.
10. The agent involved, Brijesh Mishra of Education Migration Services, provided fake offer letters to the affected students.
11. Mishra charged significant sums of money to process the students’ documents.
12. Upon reaching Canada, the students were asked to switch colleges by Mishra, citing various reasons.
13. Some students realized their offer letters were fake only when they received deportation notices from CBSA.
14. Consultants and agents are registered with the state government and are trusted by students, leading to limited verification of offer letters.
15. Canada allows students to switch colleges after arrival, which made it easier for the agent to deceive them.
16. Offer letters from reputable institutes are generally not subjected to intense scrutiny during visa processing.
17. The fraudulent offer letters increased the students’ chances of obtaining visas compared to private colleges.
18. Students who changed colleges after arrival followed the necessary procedures and informed Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
19. The license of Mishra’s agency has been canceled, and the Jalandhar police have filed a case against him and two accomplices.
20. The role of Canadian embassy officials who granted visas based on fraudulent letters is under investigation.
21. Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday said the state government will provide free legal assistance to nearly 700 Indian students who are facing deportation from Canada having fallen prey to fake college admission letters offered by fraudulent consultants in India.