Immigration Department Uncovers Possible Fake Acceptance Letters for 10,000 Foreign Students Applying to Schools

November 16, 2024 TruthUSA

According to the director-general of the International Students Branch, Bronwyn May, thousands of university and college acceptance letters utilized by foreign students applying to study in Canada this year may be fake. She made this revelation at a Commons Citizen and Immigration committee meeting.

May mentioned that more than 10,000 letters could not be verified by the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and are currently under suspicion of being “potentially fraudulent.”

The committee is currently evaluating a new system introduced last year for validating post-secondary acceptance letters. May stated that early indications show that the new process is effective.

Out of the 500,000 university and college applications and associated Canadian school acceptance letters reviewed by the IRCC, 93 percent were verified. However, over 10,000 letters are still being examined and are considered “potentially fraudulent.”

Among the unverified acceptance letters, 2 percent were unable to be confirmed with the school, 1 percent had been canceled by the school, and in 2.7 percent of cases, there was no response from the school.

May informed MPs at the committee that the enhanced letter of acceptance system has been operational for approximately 10 months, and they are currently analyzing the data related to the 10,000+ letters of acceptance.

May emphasized that the IRCC is actively investigating this issue and is looking into potential sources of the fraudulent letters.

There have been reports of foreign students receiving falsified school acceptance letters, in some cases unknowingly, from dishonest immigration consultants for over a year.

To combat fraud, the enhanced letter of acceptance verification system was rolled out in December last year, explained May. Ottawa also announced a reduction in the number of foreign students allowed to study in Canada over the next two years.

Following the issuance of over 807,000 study permits in 2022, an increase of 190,000 from the previous year, Immigration Canada revealed plans to decrease the target for foreign student permits to 437,000 for 2025 and 2026, down from 485,000 permits provided in 2024.

A September report indicated that the number of new study permit applications processed dropped by 54 percent compared to the previous year.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller has expressed concerns over the rise in international students seeking asylum in Canada after arriving on student visas.

Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 355,000 international students have been granted permanent residency in Canada, as per data released earlier this year by the IRCC.

Jennifer Cowan and Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.

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