Shillong, November 3: Brijesh Mishra, an immigration agent accused of defrauding numerous Indian students by providing counterfeit college admission letters for Canadian study permits, has rejected the allegations against him.
As per IANS, Mishra, who has been in custody in a British Columbia jail since June, asserts that he is being made a scapegoat by a group of international students from India, as reported by the Toronto Star.
In his first public appearance before an immigration tribunal in Toronto via a video link, Mishra claimed, “They are blaming me to cover their mistakes.”
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has charged Mishra with providing immigration advice without the necessary license and with counseling individuals to misrepresent or withhold information from authorities, directly or indirectly.
Earlier this year, CBSA issued deportation notices to hundreds of Indian students, primarily from Punjab, who possessed fraudulent admission offer letters from educational institutions.
Most of these students, facing potential deportation, had submitted visa applications between 2018 and 2022 through Education Migration Services, a Jalandhar-based agency led by Mishra. Each student reportedly paid between Rs 16 to Rs 20 lakh, covering all expenses, including admission fees to institutions like Humber College.
Sumit Sen, a lawyer representing one of the affected students, noted that Mishra could not explain his presence in Canada, the accusations made against him by numerous students, and the charges filed by CBSA.
In June, an IRCC taskforce (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada) was established to collaborate with CBSA in reviewing cases of affected students and graduates after fraudulent admission letters were uncovered. Of the 103 cases examined by October 12, 63 were verified as legitimate students, while 40 were not.
To enhance Canada’s International Student Program, Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, recently unveiled measures aimed at safeguarding genuine students from fraud. Starting December 1, post-secondary designated learning institutions (DLI) will be required to directly validate every applicant’s letter of acceptance with IRCC.
This enhanced verification process is designed to protect prospective students from letter-of-acceptance fraud, ensuring that study permits are only issued based on authentic acceptance letters.