(OTTAWA) Deportation orders for foreign students caught in a fraudulent scheme have been suspended by Ottawa while a task force investigates each case, the immigration minister announced Wednesday.
Hundreds of students could have been affected by the scheme, which saw immigration officials issue fake letters of acceptance presented as part of their study permit application to Canada.
Some students had no idea their documents were falsified to begin with until they applied for permanent residency, Minister Sean Fraser said.
Fraser warned that those who had been complicit in such fraud would face consequences under Canadian law.
Mr Fraser said the department was only aware of a few dozen international students who had been ordered to leave the country and he indicated that the extradition process would be put on hold.
A task force, made up of senior immigration and border control officials — likely at the assistant deputy minister level — will review each case to determine whether or not the student knew about the scam, the statement said. The Minister.
“If the facts of a particular case clearly indicate that an international student has come to Canada with a genuine intention to study, and without knowledge of the use of fraudulent documents, I have instructed officers to issue a permit of temporary residence to this person,” the minister said on Wednesday.
“Foreign students who are not involved in fraud will not be expelled. »
“For five or six years”
Those believed to be innocent victims of such fraud will also be offered the opportunity to stay in Canada for several years while they apply for permanent residence or complete their studies, the Minister added.
Mr Fraser said the students affected will be identified by the deportation orders which have already been issued, but Sarom Rho of the Migrant Workers Alliance said many students were at different stages of the process. “Others come forward because it’s a scam that’s been going on for five to six years,” she says.
The organization of M.me Rho has supported and defended students who have been caught up in fraud over the past few months, and is calling on the government to offer permanent residency to students and others without status.
The Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration had already voted unanimously to call on the government to suspend deportations and give those affected a pathway to permanent residency, on humanitarian grounds.
But the minister argued the government should avoid a blanket approach to dealing with these cases of fraud, as each person’s circumstances are different.
The scammers are believed to be based in India, which will make it difficult to charge them.