CIMM – Preventing Bad Actors in the International Student Program – February 7, 2024

Key Facts and Figures

• Intake for the International Student Program has increased dramatically in a few short years. In 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) received close to 907,000 study permit applications, a 27% increase over the previous year.

Key Messages

• IRCC has a multi-layered approach to prevent, detect and address fraud in study permit applications. IRCC runs media campaigns both domestically and abroad to deter fraud and help people avoid becoming victims. As recently as March 2023, IRCC ran a campaign in India targeting potential visitors, students, and workers to decrease the misuse of permits and to reduce fraud.
• IRCC employees receive training on how to detect and combat fraud and they work diligently to protect the integrity of Canada’s citizenship and immigration system. Officers review any adverse information that may be found on file and take that information into consideration. Unconscious bias training for decision-makers is provided to all processing officers. All applicants are provided procedural fairness and an opportunity to respond to any adverse information before a decision in misrepresentation is taken.
• Additionally, IRCC has updated our external fraud webpages to ensure clarity for the public on information and resources to help prospective applicants abroad avoid becoming a victim of fraud, and how to report fraud. We are also working on updates to provide information on immigration scams targeting international students.
• The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants is an arm’s-length institution, regulating the immigration and citizenship consulting profession and protecting both the public and consultants in good standing from those who take advantage of vulnerable people.
• The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants takes measures against consultants that don’t abide by the rules and may take disciplinary actions, including issuance of monetary penalties and suspension or revocation of licences where warranted. The College has the authority to seek court injunctions against bad actors who falsely represent themselves as licensed immigration consultants
• IRCC has implemented an enhanced Letter of Acceptance (LOA) Verification process to address the issue of fraudulent admission letters. Post-secondary designated learning institutions (DLIs) are now asked to confirm each overseas applicant’s LOA with IRCC. This will help deter bad actors and protect prospective students from document fraud.
• The international student compliance regime (ISCR) is designed to uncover potential fraud and fraud trends in the international student movement. The ISCR helps draw out information related to non-bonafide students as well as surfacing concerns related to the activities of certain DLIs. The data collected gives IRCC insight into whether or not international students are compliant with their study permit condition to actively pursue their studies.
• When non-compliance is suspected, the information is added to the individual’s file and may be taken into consideration on any subsequent immigration application decisions or upon re-entry into Canada at a port of entry. Individuals confirmed through investigation to be non-compliant may be referred to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for enforcement action.

Supplementary Information

Fraud detection

• When it comes to fraud, we are primarily focused on identifying organizers of coordinated fraud. We have measures in place to detect fraud and to flag these in our systems in order to deter future fraud.
• The Department launched the Integrity Trend Analysis Tool for broad use. This tool uses advanced analytics along with a large amount of historical data to generate historically adverse patterns and identify potentially high-risk applications. These applications are then carefully reviewed by risk assessment officers to ensure the integrity of our immigration programs, and to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians.
• IRCC conducts administrative investigations and undertakes fraud disruption techniques in collaboration with CBSA, who is responsible for pursuing enforcement action. IRCC has been conducting investigations to combat fraud in the student program and prevent those with fraudulently obtained documents from entering Canada.

The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants

• The College is a key part of the government’s efforts to fight fraud in Canada’s immigration system. It builds on significant action over the past few years, including an investment of $50M to fight fraud and new educational tools to help applicants identify fraudulent activity. It also fulfills a mandate commitment to strengthen oversight, uphold the integrity of Canada’s immigration system, and protect all those who wish to come here.
• As per Canadian federal law, immigration consultants who provide immigration and citizenship advice and representation for a fee need to be licensed by the College and must be accredited as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants or Regulated International Student Immigration Advisors. To act as an immigration consultant in Quebec, a person must be registered with the College, recognized by the Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration, and registered on the Registre québécois des consultants en immigration.
• The College does not regulate student recruitment in general, but under its Code of Conduct, does regulate circumstances where a licensee of the College also engages in student recruitment activity.

International Student Compliance Regime

• In 2014, IRCC implemented an ISCR as an integrity tool to identify potentially non-genuine students and to gather additional data and trends on international students in Canada.
• Provinces and territories have the sole authority to designate and de-designate learning institutions to host international students in Canada.
• The ISCR has three key components:
  • DLI compliance reporting – DLIs self-report the enrollment status of study permit (SP) holders;
  • Investigations of SP holders reported on by their DLI as potentially non-compliant; and
  • Enforcement action on SP holders found to be non-compliant.
• Data is integral to monitoring the success of the international student program and helps us ensure students are actively pursuing their studies and shares aggregate data with provinces and territories responsible for the designation and de-designation of learning institutions.
• Individuals confirmed through investigation to be non-compliant may be referred to the CBSA for enforcement action.
• [Redaction]