The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said it has identified over 10,000 fraudulent student acceptance letters, raising concerns over the integrity of international student admissions.
This discovery by the IRCC came after the introduction of stricter verification procedures to address issues with fake admission letters discovered in previous years.
The Director-General of the International Students Branch at IRCC, Bronwyn May, informed a parliamentary committee that the government had introduced stricter verification processes in response to the growing issue.
May said the new checks were carried out over the past year as part of the review of 500,000 student applications.
While most of the letters were confirmed genuine, a significant number were said to be suspicious.
The checks also revealed that 93% of the student acceptance letters were verified as legitimate.
Two per cent of the documents were found to be fraudulent, while 1% were linked to canceled admissions.
In several instances, universities and colleges had failed to properly confirm the authenticity of the letters before admitting students.
May further explained that the enhanced verification measures were introduced after a series of cases in 2023, where international students were at risk of deportation due to receiving fraudulent acceptance letters from an unlicensed consultant in India.
These incidents prompted the government to take action by requiring educational institutions to confirm acceptance letters through an online portal, a process that is now mandatory for all applicants, whether inside or outside Canada.
Immigration critic for Canada’s New Democratic Party, Jenny Kwan described the findings as “extremely alarming” and called for the government to address both the fraudulent practices and potential involvement of educational institutions.
“Canada has a responsibility to ensure that international students who have been defrauded are protected,” Kwan said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
She maintained that Canada’s reputation as a destination for international students could be at risk if such fraudulent practices were not swiftly dealt with, urging the government to also provide support for students who had been misled.
International students contribute significantly to Canada’s economy, not only through tuition fees, but also in terms of job creation and cultural exchange.
