CIMM – Narrative – October 24, 2023

CIMM Hearing: Genuine Students Impacted by Fraud Taskforce

International students bring significant benefits to our Canadian academic institutions, to our economy and to communities from coast to coast to coast.

The integrity of the International Student Program is essential for the students who choose Canada for their studies, and for Canadians to have confidence in our programs and processes.

Earlier this year, cases came to light in which some international students and graduates began to face enforcement action related to the submission of fake documents when they previously applied for a study permit. These cases were connected to a number of fraud investigations that were being conducted jointly by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

In terms of scope, nearly 1,550 study permit applications in all were linked to these investigations, and nearly 1,050 of them were refused with no study permit issued.

Media reports consistently repeated that 700 former students were facing removal from Canada, but we found that only about 470 study permits had been issued that were connected to these investigations. Of these, there have been no enforcement activities to date on nearly 180 of them.

We indicated to the Committee in June that there were 309 cases, in which enforcement action had begun. After further review, we found that some of those files were duplicates. This means, in all, at present, there are actually 285 individuals who had potentially submitted a fraudulent letter of acceptance and had a study permit issued to them, and were facing enforcement action as a result of the investigations.

As some of the affected individuals came forward to explain that they were truly victims of this fraud, IRCC, with the support of CBSA, launched the Genuine Students Impacted by Fraud Taskforce. The taskforce’s mandate is to prevent individuals who sincerely came to Canada to pursue studies but were duped by bad actors from being deported.

As of October 12, 2023, the taskforce has reviewed 108 cases. The taskforce reviews the facts of cases only after an individual has been through other steps, for example at the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and/or Federal Court, and been issued a removal order. We are aware that others are still making their way through the system and the taskforce remains in place to review additional cases as needed.

Of the reviewed cases, 29 individuals were determined to be genuine students, and officers have been authorized to issue them temporary resident permits of up to three years. This will allow them to continue to work or study in Canada. In 15 cases, the individual was found to have not been a victim and enforcement action resumed.

For the remaining cases that have been reviewed, we have not taken action on them. This includes those who left Canada before a decision was even made on their admissibility by the Immigration Division of the IRB, and those who have a pending claim for asylum. The taskforce has reviewed and made decisions on these cases as well, in the event intervention becomes necessary at a later date.

The approach we have taken has been to focus on identifying organizers of coordinated fraud, not penalizing victims. On June 23, CBSA announced that charges had been laid against one individual identified by victims as being one of the people defrauding prospective students, while the taskforce, as noted, has facilitated 29 genuine students to remain in Canada.

We know, though, that the taskforce is only part of the response needed. While we have measures in place to detect fraud, we need to continue to strengthen our processes to prevent these situations from developing again.

IRCC currently has layers of verification to ensure that fraudulent documents and integrity trends are identified, including a verification of some letters of acceptance from approved designated learning institutions on a case by case basis when an officer suspects a letter of acceptance to be fraudulent.

IRCC also launches targeted public awareness campaigns when they are warranted, such as the 2023 advertising campaign launched in India to raise awareness among prospective applicants of recent fraud trends. In March 2023, IRCC ran a $400,000 advertising campaign targeting potential visitors, students and workers to decrease the misuse of permits and to reduce fraud. There were over 135,000 visits to campaign web content, and ads were seen or heard over 100 million times. This work supplements the in-person efforts of the mission in India.

Canada continues to take decisive measures to combat organizers of coordinated fraud. Measures include holding immigration and citizenship consultants to account by investing $48.3 million over four years and $9.8 million ongoing to improve oversight, strengthen enforcement and increase accountability to protect the public from dishonest consultants and other bad actors who take advantage of vulnerable people.

To further increase the integrity of the program and protect vulnerable students from nefarious actors, IRCC is working to implement a new tool to verify letters of acceptance with post-secondary designated learning institutions this fall. This new verification system will see designated learning institutions asked to confirm every applicant’s letter of acceptance directly with IRCC. We will be holding training sessions with representatives of designated learning institutions in the coming weeks to prepare them to begin participating in this process.

The International Student Program is also currently being reviewed to strengthen the integrity of the program and reduce the vulnerability of students to unethical recruitment and dishonest consultants. IRCC consulted with provinces and territories on this matter over the summer, and we continue to work with our provincial and territorial partners and other stakeholders.

We are also continuing our work, based on our mandate, to develop a recognized institutions model for the program. We’ve been seeking input from provinces and territories, education associations and post-secondary institutions as we continue to refine this framework.

As the work of the taskforce proceeds, we will continue to give those affected the opportunity to be heard and potentially remain in Canada. Our focus will continue to be on helping well-intentioned students and graduates remain in Canada to complete their studies so that they may apply for any other temporary or permanent status they are eligible for in the future.