Government Of Canada Announces New Framework To Target Fraud Within Canada's Foreign Student Program

Announcement by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

On October 27^th, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, announced his plans to change the International Student Program to include more measures protecting prospective applicants from fraud. One of the biggest modifications set to be implemented by the end of the year is a new enhanced system of verifying letters of acceptance for incoming international students directly with post-secondary institutions across Canada¹.

This comes as no surprise as in recent years the government of Canada has been tracking the rise of fraud related to immigration applications and the admission of foreign students into Canadian universities. Over the summer, an investigation by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ("IRCC")'s task force was launched into the program which revealed that 1,550 student permit applications were tied to the issuance of fraudulent acceptance