An agent gave a fake ‘offer letter’ despite taking lakhs of rupees to study in a Canadian college. More than seven hundred Indian workers may be repatriated after four years. However, the agent who has been accused of cheating is missing.
According to a report published in the Indian media Indian Express, an agent named Brijesh Mishra extorted lakhs of rupees from more than seven hundred students 3-4 years ago. He gave offer letters to those students to study in Canadian colleges. In return, he took huge sums of money from everyone for college fees and other expenses. Those Indians have also got degrees after studying in Canadian colleges. Even, with the help of that degree, he is working in the country. However, after all these years, when applying for Canadian citizenship, the agent’s deception was caught by Canada’s Border Security Agency.
Brijesh is the head of an organization called Education Migration Services in Jalandhar, Punjab, the Indian Express report claimed. Allegedly, he took huge amount of money from each student in the name of submission of documents for admission in colleges in Canada and offer letter from those colleges.
After 12th most students apply for student visa to go abroad. At that time they approached an agent or consulting company. Generally, the students submit to the agent documents of educational qualification, International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test certificate and proof of financial ability to pursue studies abroad. Based on such documents, each student’s agent starts searching for a foreign college or university. Agents also prioritize what kind of course or educational institution students are interested in. Based on that, they apply to foreign colleges or universities as students. If an ‘offer letter’ is received from a foreign college, the student has to deposit the study fee in that college instead. At that time the student submitted it through the agent. If a letter is sent to the student giving approval from the college, the students get the receipt of the money deposited. In addition, proof that the student has the funds to cover the cost of living abroad in the first year must be provided at that time. All these are done through agents. Apply for visa online if you get an opportunity to study in a foreign college. Then the Canadian Embassy accepts or rejects the student’s visa application after the biometric test.
A consultancy firm feels that the offer letter has not been given special attention despite examining various documents of the students. They claimed, ‘Even though visas are strictly enforced, it is surprising that so many offer letters from a particular college were not thoroughly scrutinized by the Canadian embassy.’
Source: Anandabazar
