CIMM – Media Analysis – June 14, 2023

Student Fraud Issue

Since March 2023, the possible deportation of international students from India generated a high volume of coverage. Our scan detected over 60 individual articles, most of coming from online and international sources. There was also important coverage in national sources, such as CBC and the Toronto Star.

The most notable national coverage is a pair of reports published by CBC back in March. On March 17, CBC’s The Fifth Estate broadcast and published an investigation into the situation, at the time when this matter started to gather media attention. The article relayed comments by students who claimed to be victims of fraud, and that they did not know that the admission letters they received were faked. The article also relayed comments by a protest organizer who claimed that over 100 students were facing a similar situation.

Many of the articles shared stories of students facing deportation, such as Inderjeeet Singh, who has been living in the country for years, and was applying to become a permanent resident. Finally, there were comments by activist Jaspreet Singh, who advocated for stricter regulations, criticized abusive practices by agents, and insisted that this situation can cause serious trauma for students, and even suicide. As far as we can tell, there was no other mention of this in subsequent articles, and no students have publicly expressed suicidal ideations.

On March 31, another CBC/Fifth Estate investigation was published. It showed that the Indian authorities had arrested a travel agent accused of forging the student visa documents of dozens of international student who are currently facing removal orders from Canada, and that his partners were currently under investigation. According to the parents of one of the concerned students, this agent not only produced fraudulent acceptance document, but also cheated them out of a large sum of money which was supposed to cover tuition fees, Throughout the article, the number of students affected by this situation is said to be “dozens”.

According to most articles, 700 students were affected by this fraud, with a few also giving 150 as a number. However, it was noted in a March 20 article from the PIE News that “It is not clear how many Indian students are involved in the fraud. CBC News is reporting that there were “dozens” of students, while one news outlet in India said there were 700. Neither provided a source for these statements.”  Regardless, most articles since claim that 700 students are affected. This is especially true of international and online sources.

Notable Headlines:

Canada to deport 700 Indian students as visa documents found to be fake (The Economic Times, 2023-05-08)
700 Indian students who applied for study visas through Education Migration Services, Jalandhar headed by one Brijesh Mishra, have been issued deportation notices after their admission offer letters were found to be fake. The students were charged between Rs 16 to Rs 20 lakh for all expenses including admission fees to a premier institute Humber college. Air tickets and security deposits were not included in the payment to the agent.

700 Indian students face deportation from Canada as admission offer letters found fake (indianexpress.com, 2023-03-18)
Experts said most of these students had already completed their studies, got work permits and gained work experience as well. It's only when they applied for PR, they landed in trouble.

Canada’s NDP calls on govt to waive deporting Indian students who arrived on fake admission letters (India Blooms News Service, 2023-05-31)
The Canadian government has reportedly been requested by the New Democratic Party (NDP) not to deport 150 Punjabi students, who, according to the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA), arrived on fake college admission letters.

Don't deport students in fraud case, MPs say (Toronto Star, 2023-06-08)
A parliamentary committee is calling on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately stop deporting a group of Indian international students who have been deemed inadmissible after using fake college admission letters to enter the country.

Quotes from affected students:

• "Everything is dependent on trust. That's how things work in India. We didn't know any rules and regulations for Canada. We don't have any information (as to) where to rectify whether that's a licensed consultant or not," Ravjeet Singh (Toronto Star, 2023-03-21)
• "I cannot express my feelings right now. How will I prove myself innocent? Is there any way? I believe (in the consultant), it is my fault. I got a visa. I follow all the rules, study (sic). Is that my fault?"  Dimple Kumari (Toronto Star, 2023-03-21)
• "After four or five years, they just said now the letter was fake," she said. "We are all scared what's going to happen to our future." Rajan Kaur (Toronto Star, 2023-03-21)
• “We have now decided to speak out in the hope that our cases will receive more attention. Besides, with the intervention of the government, there are chances that the Canadian authorities could be held equally accountable as they too failed to check the authenticity of the ‘acceptance letters’ when they applied for study permits and their future could be saved” Inderjit Singh (Tribune India, 2023-03-17)
• “I didn’t know a fake document was used in my student visa application, (…) It wasn’t until I received that letter from the CBSA that I found out the letter was fraudulent.” Karanveer Singh, (The Pie News, 2023-03-20)
• “In the beginning, all students felt ashamed about facing deportation but we are convincing them that it is not their fault. How can a naive student know about fake or original letters from a Canadian college when their own embassy – which granted them a visa on that (fake offer) letter – could not detect it.”  Harjinder (Indian Express, 2023-04-17)
• "[My family] sacrificed their whole life savings to sponsor my education here and after five, six years ... I'm facing deportation," he said. "My dream is shattered." Lovepreet Singh (CBC.ca Toronto, 2023-06-08)
• ''We thought that the immigration process is very strict, and that they verify everything when they are giving the visa,'' (…)''I was really shocked. I've already been here five years. Canada is my country now.'' Karamjeet Kaur  (The Canadian Press, 2023-05-20)
• “We just want justice, that’s it. We spent five years here (…) We’re doing [this] protest until we get… justice.” Ramanjot Brar (The Real News, 2023-06-12)

Stakeholder Quotes:

• "Ten years ago, the system was fine because fewer international students were coming to Canada. Now hundreds of thousands of students are coming in every year using the same system, which has opened gates to the exploitation."
• "The system needs more regulation and would be better without a middle person who will charge the students big lump sums of money as service fees, and at the same time, get a big commission from the college,"
• "Unfortunately, this can escalate into a worst-case scenario. This can lead to suicides or severe mental health trauma for international students." Jaspreet Singh, a former international student and a current activist at the Toronto-based International Sikh Students Association (CBC, 2023-03-17)

Media Calls:

We have received a high volume of media calls related to this topic in the past few months, with about 35 total calls. In the week when this situation first came up, we received 15 calls. Since June 1, we have received 16 new calls. Most recent calls asked if the students will be allowed to stay, what will be done to prevent this in the future, and inquired about a recent comment by the Minister that a solution is being pursued. Most calls assume that the number of students being affected is 700, but a few mentioned 150 students. A currently ongoing call from CBC is asking for confirmation on the number of students.

Digital Media Analysis:

Since March 1, 2023, there have been 420 mentions with 1.93M impressions and 1.39M reach on Twitter of which more nearly 74% were retweets and only 14% were original tweets. Most of them originated in Canada followed by India and Nigeria.

Sentiment was mostly neutral or negative calling for justice and asking for the deportation to be stopped. 

• Several articles in The Indian Express with over 42M reach explain the story of possible deportation of international students from India due to fraud.
• Several articles and videos in the Indian media including NDTV, The Times of India and India Today covered the deportation story and protests with some mentioning 700 students. A couple of articles mentioning 700 students facing deportation say they are hoping to get a “second chance”.
• An article in The Free Press Journal says that according to a Canada-based student group “Not 700, 70-80 Indian students handed deportation notices”.
• Several high-reach Reddit threads discussed this matter mentioning 700 students. 
• Several tweets talk about the deportation order including the political reaction to it. A tweet by an immigration consultant asks “So all the news/media channels are playing a false narrative or is this another case of one hand (CBSA) not talking to the other (IRCC). As it is #IRCC failed to establish the admissibility the first time these applications were submitted.  So what now??” Another asks “These students were given fake admission letters. So after paying 3x fees for two years, contributing to the Canadian economy for 2+ years, paying CPP and EI they are now deemed inadmissible at the time of PR. Why weren’t they validated upon entry ?”
• Several tweets say that IRCC and “immigration officer” were responsible for the mistake. Another tweet cautions students to use a verified RCIC. 
• A CBC article and Reddit thread discuss suicides amongst Indian students. This story is however unrelated to the deportation order.