Canada Student Visa Fraud Rampant: Ya Think?

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Okay, here is another Breaking Exclusive for the No Sh*t Sherlock Files! Hard to believe Media are just figuring this out now!

One only need to drive through the city of Vancouver or the lower mainland cities and towns to see what seems to amount to boiler room diploma mills “University of You name it”, storefronts, with big signs posted on buildings or in Shopping Malls, with storefronts that were most likely previous Payday Loan outlets.

One can view any Newspaper advertising dubious University College of International Studies etc, etc. Many of these students who come here do not even speak English, soooooooooo, that would be a first hint, lost on our Provincial and Federal Government Visa Officers.

How could these Students study here with no or little English skills? Oh wait we have a slew of English as a Second Language (ESL) Schools in British Columbia, almost as numerous as Starbucks.  But more importantly the unscrupulous  Visa Consultants abroad are more than willing to take a families money in the hopes of sending their Child overseas, regardless if the schools is legit or an apartments size University of Dubious Studies.

It used to be that you could not call yourself an institute of higher education, if you were not part of a legitimate post secondary organization, and the “edu” at the end of your Webpage or Email was one way to legitimize your institution in one way. There were other forms of a Institute to verify it’s legitimacy, which is lost on many overseas who are not savy enough to figure it out.

There were numerous ESL schools here closed down for taking Visa Students money, once they arrived to find the schools curriculum severely lacking or non existent courses.

Degrees upon Graduation, will get you a job with a paper hat in this country. Many of these so called institutes of learning were closed for taking students money and offering little else, but a scam.

Funny thing, one University that is absent and on par with these so called Paper Hat Institutions of higher learning and ESL Schools would be MacDonald University, where Dean McHappy Meal will give you a fair shake. 

Families in other lands who scrape and save for decades to better the life of their child soon find once in Canada, the school is not as IVY League as the brochure or webpage displays, and the Degree the student hopes to complete and bring home may not be worth the Fast Food napkin it is printed on.

But it is common knowledge in Canada that many Institutes of higher learning had Visa Students of Convenience who would use the Student Visa Scam Ruse as they would never get their foot past Canada’s Border and Airport security otherwise.

One would think if a Terrorist Organization or Criminal Enterprise need entry into North America, a Student Visa is the way to go.

in ending, perhaps it is high time our Government takes action against these boiler room diploma mills or institutions which offer educational skills very few would need or companies would recognize, and stamp out Visa fraud, by securing our borders and screening Students more thoroughly.

The First step would be to Hire Canadians to do the interview process over in those countries and issue Visas instead of hiring that Countries Nationals who work in our Consulates to do it for us.

As part of our National Anthem goes, “OH Canada, We stand on Guard for Thee”…. well most of the time anyways.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=00c4f006-236c-4534-b9ed-e1c28ca81727

Student visa fraud rampant

Foreign students face no risk of deportation if they don’t show up for class, report finds

Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun Published: Thursday, October 02, 2008

VANCOUVER – Canada places so few restrictions on foreign students and the schools that attract them that it has left the student-visa system open to widespread abuse and fraud, according to an internal government review obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

Canada’s rules are so lax, the review notes, that foreign students can’t be deported even if they never show up for class. “There is no requirement for [foreign] students to actually attend classes despite the fact they are in Canada to study,” the report said.

“Students must only show the ‘intent’ to study in Canada.” According to the review, Canada’s soft approach is in stark contrast to those of other countries – including the United States and Australia – that actively monitor students once they arrive.

Canada is also one of the few countries that grant permits to attend virtually any institution, whether it’s a public university or a private, unregulated English-as- a-second-language school.

Overall, 80 per cent of those who apply to Canada for a study permit get one – including 93 per cent of those from Korea and 99 per cent from Taiwan.

China and India have lower acceptance rates, but Canada still accepts about three-quarters of applicants from those countries.

The review said that since 2002, Canada has adopted an increasingly “facilitative” approach to foreign students – no longer requiring students to attend class, making it easier to extend the length of study permits and allowing students to work for up to two years after they complete their studies.

“While these changes have made the program more attractive to genuine students, it also has opened up the opportunity for non-genuine students to use the study permit as a means to secure work in Canada,” the review found.

“It has also opened up an avenue for individuals who are seeking general entry into Canada for an extended period of time to do so under the guise of being a student.”

Just this past summer, four Chinese teenagers studying English at BCC Academy in Vancouver were reported missing by their home-stay family.

The case was originally investigated by the police but later handed over to the CBSA after suspicions arose the students had used their study permits to fraudulently enter Canada.

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