Feds tackle international student fraud in Canada with new enhanced verifications for all applicants

Ottawa is making major changes to Canada’s international student program to crack down on fraudsters taking advantage of the system and better protect students from becoming victims.

Speaking at Sheridan College in Brampton on Friday, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced plans to introduce an enhanced verification system for all overseas study permit applications by the end of the year.

“International students are not the problem,” Miller said. “They come here with hopes and dreams and they are essential to building this country and the future and the ambition that we set ourselves for our country.”

The feds are also bringing in a “recognized institution model” for post-secondary schools that benefits post-secondary learning institutions that have higher standards for services, supports and outcomes for international students in time for the next fall semester.

Applicants for those schools would be prioritized when it comes to processing their study permits.

Miller says schools that accept international students will have to confirm every applicant’s letter of acceptance with the Immigration Department starting on Dec. 1.

“Our goal here is to punish the bad actors and make sure they are held accountable, and reward the good actors who provide adequate outcomes for success for international students,” Miller said, adding that the new safeguards will bein place in time for the 2024 fall semester.

The changes come after hundreds of international students were facing deportation in June after applying for visas through a now-shuttered consulting company in India, many of which received fake offers of acceptance without their knowledge.

A task force including the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been established to determine whether each individual student was aware of the scam, and those who unknowingly came to Canada with fake acceptance letters will be given Temporary Resident Permits.

Of the 103 cases reviewed so far, roughly 40 per cent of students appeared to be in on the scheme, while the rest were victims of it.

Miller said the government is committed to rooting out fraudsters in the system and warned that “if you’ve conducted fraud and you’re in this country, you don’t have any particular business in staying here.”

“An outcome that is different than that undermines the credibility of the system and the really bright students that have come here in good faith,” Miller said.

In 2014, Canada set targets to increase international student enrolment to more than 450,000 from about 240,000 by the end of last year.

As a top destination for international learners, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has reported that there were more than 807,000 international study permit holders in Canada in December and Miller said there have been some 608,000 applications for international students between January and August of this year.

With files from the Canadian Press