A recent report revealed that around 20,000 Indian students who arrived in Canada never enrolled in colleges, and the government has no record of their whereabouts. This has raised significant concerns about immigration fraud and the misuse of the student visa system.
Some students have used their student visas to enter Canada and work rather than study. Others seem to have been misled by unregulated agents promising easy access to jobs or permanent residency.
According to the National Post report, many of these students have taken up low-paying jobs to sustain themselves. Some had genuine intentions to study but, unable to gain admission to reputable universities, opted for lesser-known colleges.
Upon arrival, they discovered these institutions were fake or lacked proper facilities.
Indian Students Scammed
A 24-year-old student from Panchkula, Haryana, told the Economic Times that he thought he had been accepted into a well-known college in Brampton. However, upon arriving in Canada, he learned the address on his admission letter belonged to a small office with no classrooms.
“They told me classes were full and asked me to wait,” he shared. “Weeks later, I realized the college was fake. Luckily, I had only paid 4.2 lakh of the 12 lakh tuition fee for the year.”
The student had been in touch with his agent in Haryana solely through phone calls. The agent assured him he could cover the remaining fees by working part-time, avoiding needing an additional loan. To support himself, he began working at a gas station.
While some students were victims of fraudulent colleges, others appeared to misuse the student visa system to enter Canada for work. Canada’s policy of not requiring international students to pay tuition fees upfront makes the system more vulnerable to abuse compared to countries like the US and Australia.
A 27-year-old from Valsad, Gujarat, admitted to enrolling in a community college with a two-year fee of 7.5 lakh. This was significantly less than the cost of completing a master’s degree in Canada, about three times higher.
“Many people from my area have done this, so I followed their lead. I know it’s illegal, but I had no other option. Even those at good colleges are doing the same jobs I am. They have loans exceeding 25 lakh,” he explained.
Students took Full-time jobs
Currently, he works two jobs—one at a restaurant and another delivering food at night—to earn money to send home.
Most students identified in the report were from Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. Their experiences sounded similar. For instance, a 26-year-old Khammam, a Telangana student, enrolled in a Surrey college but never attended classes.
Instead, he works full-time at a mobile shop for $7 an hour in cash. Similarly, a 25-year-old student from Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, is a delivery driver in Toronto.
The student association also mentioned that some individuals illegally use Canada as a stopover to cross into the US. However, Henry Lotin, a former federal economist and immigration expert, noted that most missing Indian students remained in Canada, working and pursuing permanent residency.
“There was a record number of international students claiming asylum in Canada last year. This suggests that at least 10% of student visa holders are unaccounted for. While this is the first time we have concrete data, there are still questions about the whereabouts of all student visa holders,” he stated.
