Seven hundred students, one consultancy in Jalandhar: the fake acceptance letters that Canada only discovered years later

The Canadian case is the clearest demonstration anywhere that a fraud can look like complete success for years — visas granted, studies finished, work permits issued — and still detonate.

According to CIC News, more than 700 students from India, mostly from Punjab, obtained Canadian study visas between roughly 2016 and 2020 on the strength of admission offer letters arranged by a consultancy in Jalandhar, Education Migration Services, run by Brijesh Mishra. Students paid the consultancy thousands of dollars — Indian reports put the package at around ₹16 lakh — to cover college applications, visa processing and tuition. On arrival, many were told they could not join the college on the letter, for reasons such as deferral or a lack of seats, and were moved to a different institution, where they went on to study and graduate. Some completed their studies, obtained post-graduation work permits and built up Canadian work experience.

The letters were fake. The deception was discovered only when the students applied for permanent residence and the Canada Border Services Agency examined the original visa files. In 2023 hundreds faced removal orders for a misrepresentation most of them had not known about. Immigration Minister Sean Fraser called the behaviour of "some of the promoters around the world" disgusting, and the government set up a task force to review cases individually; deportations were paused for students who could show they had been duped. Mishra was later arrested in Canada and, as CBC reported in 2024, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, including misrepresentation and communicating false information, in connection with dozens of fraudulent acceptance letters.

Two lessons carry across borders. The first is that the intermediary's "solution" on arrival — "that college is full, we'll move you" — was the fraud revealing itself, and a call to the college named on the letter would have exposed it on day one. The second is that in immigration law, the person whose name is on the application carries the misrepresentation, not the agent who made it. The students had genuine degrees and genuine work; what they did not have was an honest first document.

For any country: only the institution can confirm an offer letter, most countries license immigration consultants (Canada's are registered with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants), and an offer letter you have not personally seen confirmed by the school is not an offer letter yet.