Canada says it won't deport international students who are victims of immigration fraud (polievre responds)

[CdnFox]

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/canada-says-it-won-t-deport-international-students-who-are-victims-of-immigration-fraud-1.6441274

Today, Sean Fraser announced that victims of immigration fraud who are facing removal from the country would be offered a temporary resident permit, if required, to ensure they can remain in Canada and won’t be subject to the five-year ban in place that usually follows cases of misrepresentation.

 

Advocates say roughly 700 Indian students and graduates, most of whom hail from Punjab state, are presently facing deportation in connection with international study permit application scams. In many cases, the fraud was discovered and deportation orders were issued when those affected applied for permanent residency.

 

So the way the scam works is that in India they go to an "immigration expert" who takes their money and says "yay - you got accepted to the university of medicine hat! Your permits are all approved!!!" 

They then go to canada - and find out that they aren't approved at all, often when they apply for permanent residency which suggests they never intended to go to school.

Now we have hundreds of these people here.

Polievre responds in a video at that link as well and his response is as usual simple and effective -  "we will make sure before allowing students to come that they have a verified admittance letter,  a place to live, and a source of income either from savings or a job".   How hard was that to figure out?

 

 

[Guest]

Coming here to study, is one of the easiest immigration loopholes that there is.

I know tons of people who have done this, and especially women.

Come here as a student (I have dated one from China and one from Thailand way back in the day--both well in their 20's), seeking to marry and obtain permanent papers.

Essentially a major shortcut to the conventional ways.

They know we're pillow soft on crack downs, so this enables the bad actors to charge extortionate rates, knowing they will have high success rates due to it.

But yeah, there should be some kind of proof of attendance, as well as concrete proof of employment, at the very least, where applicable.

When your borders are this weak, nobody will respect them.

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, Perspektiv said:

But yeah, there should be some kind of proof of attendance, as well as concrete proof of employment, at the very least, where applicable.

When your borders are this weak, nobody will respect them.

I confess - i'm utterly stunned there isn't.  We apparently literally take their word for it that they're into a university - obviously we don't even ask which one considering a number of them were fake in these cases. They just put down Tuktoyaktuk technology terminus  (brampton campus) and the feds are like  "Sounds legit - waive him through".

I get these kids were legit duped in most cases but they're kids - you expect them to be pretty easy to fool.  Our gov't should be smarter than the kids.

[Moonlight Graham]

I don't understand how they would get in the country in the first place without a valid visa, which would be offered to them by Canadian immigration.  CBSA would catch this in the airport.

I'm sure there are unknowing victims of fraud, but they also need to take some responsibility for that and do their due diligence.  But either way, I still have no idea how they'd be allowed to enter the country without a valid visa based on their studies.  Sounds like a failure of our border or immigration system.

Also, how did they get a valid study or work permit in Canada?  This seems like a system-wide failure on Canada's part.  This government is a joke.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Moonlight Graham

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CdnFox said:

I get these kids were legit duped in most cases but they're kids 

I don't think they are as innocent as they appear.

They know the loopholes and its a known thing.

Want to skip the long lines, come to Canada as a student.

The system is easy to game, and especially of you're a woman, you can marry local and get a PR card.

Nobody from a significantly poorer country comes to a country like Canada study. They want an easy way in. 

I don't buy that after so many fraudulent entries, that they can still play innocent.

They just know we are so soft, we won't kick them out.

Try that stunt in a country like China, and see what happens. 

People know the country doesn't play, so they ensure their papers are in order.

[CdnFox]

46 minutes ago, Perspektiv said:

I don't think they are as innocent as they appear.

They know the loopholes and its a known thing.

Want to skip the long lines, come to Canada as a student.

The system is easy to game, and especially of you're a woman, you can marry local and get a PR card.

Nobody from a significantly poorer country comes to a country like Canada study. They want an easy way in. 

I don't buy that after so many fraudulent entries, that they can still play innocent.

They just know we are so soft, we won't kick them out.

Try that stunt in a country like China, and see what happens. 

People know the country doesn't play, so they ensure their papers are in order.

I'm quite sure that many took advantage of what they  believe is a loophole - get a student visa and go there and then apply for permanent.

however - that's legal.  I believe they thought they were LEGALLY exploiting a loop hole, and these "brokers" take their money, don't do anything and say 'You're in, Canada welcomes you".    Then they find out all they've got is basically a visitors visa and can't apply for permanent residence, and are in a bit of a pickle.

I think the gov't did the right thing here - granted them temp visas so they'd be able to sort things out and didn't ding them with the demerit for fraud.