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Federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller is announcing measures to protect international students from fraud.
It follows a review of the International Student Program.
It found some international students had arrived in Canada on fraudulent letters of acceptance to colleges or universities.
Of the 103 applicants reviewed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 40 were not genuine students.
Miller says the use of fraudulent admissions letters is a major concern for his department and continues to pose a threat to the integrity of the student program.
“Starting by the end of the year, we’re taking steps to prevent this type of fraud by introducing an enhanced system of actually verifying the letters of acceptance directly with post-secondary institutions for all overseas study permit applications,” says Miller.
Other measures could come out next fall.
“We plan to implement the recognized institution framework in time for the 2024 fall semester. The framework would recognize those institutions whose international students benefit from top-class services, housing, and other supports. Our goal here is to punish the bad actors, make sure that they are held accountable, and reward the good actors who provide adequate outcomes for the success of international students,” says Miller.
Miller says colleges and universities identified in the framework could benefit from such things as faster student permit application processing.
An assessment of the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program is also planned with changes to reflect the needs of the Canadian labour market.
More than 608 thousand requests for study permits were received between January and August of this year.
The federal government says international students contribute well over $20 billion to the Canadian economy.
“We recognize the significant social, cultural and economic benefits that international students bring to Canada, and for those benefits to continue, we must address challenges to the integrity of the International Student Program. Through these measures, we are taking action against nefarious actors who have preyed on genuine students for financial gain by identifying every fraudulent letter of acceptance soon after it is submitted.”