Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

Comité permanent de la citoyenneté et de l'immigration

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 14, 2023 -

On 14 June 2023, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration will begin a study looking into the circumstances that have led 700 international students from India to be found inadmissible to Canada and to understand how this could have been prevented. Consultants hired by the students to help with their applications submitted fraudulent documents claiming to be admission letters from Canadian designated learning institutions. The “ghost consultants” created an exploitative scheme that has left many students, graduates and post-graduates facing removal orders on grounds of misrepresentation and a five-year ban from entering Canada. The committee strongly condemns the actions of “ghost consultants” in India who have preyed on international students.

The committee urges the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the Minister of Public Safety to immediately use their discretion to stay pending deportation orders and to provide remedies to those affected, such as by offering permanent residence through the use of humanitarian and compassionate considerations or by implementing a temporary public policy.