Ottawa pausing deportations of international

students affected by acceptance letter scam

Federal government says it's creating a task force to
look into each case of fraud

Jessica Mundie · CBC News · Posted: Jun 14, 2023 3:16 PM ADT | Last Updated: June
14

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser rises during question
period in the House of Commons on February 9, 2023 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The
Canadian Press)
The federal government says it's hitting pause on planned deportations of
international students who may have been caught up in a foreign acceptance letter
scam.
The announcement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
comes after dozens of international students received deportation orders which
accuse them of using forged post-secondary school acceptance documents to get
into Canada.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser warned that "potentially a few hundred people"
could find themselves affected by the scam and removal orders.

Fraser announced Wednesday that the government will be undertaking an analysis

of "every individual case that is the subject of a removal order on the basis of
fraudulent letters of acceptance."

Minister announces a pause on deportations of international

students connected to acceptance letter scam

3 months ago
Duration1:20
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser announces a task
force of senior officials at IRCC and CBSA that will be responsible for analyzing
‘every individual case that is the subject of a removal order on the basis of
fraudulent letters of acceptance.’
To review these cases, the government has created a task force of senior officials
from IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CBSA will provide
the names of individuals accused of forging documents and the IRCC will
investigate individual cases to determine if the person was genuinely intending to
study in Canada.

"The government of Canada's focus is on identifying those who are responsible for
the fraudulent activity and not on penalizing those who may have been affected by
fraud," said Fraser.

Affected students currently facing deportation orders have been granted eight-
week temporary resident permits to cover them while their cases are investigated,
said IRCC. The department said that once an individual case is reviewed and
deemed genuine, the permit will be extended for three years.

IRCC said it is hoping to complete its reviews of these cases during the eight-week
permit period and students will be allowed to work during the review process.

Victims of the acceptance letter fraud told CBC News they believe they were
scammed by immigration agents from their home countries that they hired to
handle their visa applications. They allege the agents created fake acceptance
documents for Canadian post-secondary schools which were used to obtain
student visas and entry to Canada.

The government task force will consider a number of factors when deciding
whether applicants actually intended to study in Canada. Fraser said the task force
will determine whether applicants actually completed their studies or knew of any
fraudulent activity.

Fraser said the task force also will work with deported students who may have been
victims of the scam, to see if they can be brought back.

Fraser said IRCC has been working to come up with a "stronger system" to better
detect this type of fraud.