Canada ‘working to stop misinformation’ related to study permits, asylum system: Miller | World News

In a statement on Monday, Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller said, “Fraudsters take advantage of hopeful applicants with false promises, and high fees for fake services and fraudulent applications. Fraud isn’t just about scams — providing false information or submitting fake documents in an immigration or citizenship application is illegal and carries serious consequences.”

He said that in 2024, the government investigated an average of over 9,000 cases of suspected immigration fraud every month, which led to thousands of applications being refused every month, and tens of thousands of bad faith actors being banned from entering Canada.

He added his department was “working to stop misinformation” related to international study permits and the asylum system.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), in details posted on its website, stressed that using the asylum system was “not a way to fast-track” immigration to Canada, that it does “not automatically accept asylum claims” and that such claimants are “subject to rigorous screening”. It warned, “No one can guarantee your asylum claim will be approved. If it’s denied, you will be removed from Canada.”

It added that making a “false asylum claim can have serious consequences” including the claimant being banned from returning to Canada or their family not being able to come to the country in the future.

There has been surge of asylum claims from Indian nationals, including international students, in recent years. In 2024, they accounted for 32,375 or close to 19% of the total 172,255 claims. Both were record numbers, far surpassing the 2023 figures of 11,265 Indians making claims (about 7.9%) out of a total of 143,360.

In 2015, when the Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first came to power, Indians made just 380 claims out of a total of only 16050.

India has expressed worry over the system being manipulated by pro-Khalistan elements. In September this year, a senior official told the Hindustan Times there was the increasing phenomenon of young people joining pro-Khalistan protests outside Indian missions in Canada, taking selfies and then leaving within minutes.

It also warned that prospective international students could be getting “scammed” if someone told them they could stay in Canada for much longer than the length of the study permit or promised them a job or permanent residence.

According to data from IRCC, Indians were issued 189,070 study permits in 2024, as against 278,110 the previous year, a decrease of over 32%.

In 2024, they comprised 36% of the total permits issued – 518,125. That overall figure also fell from 681,390 in 2023, when Indians were also the largest country cohort, at nearly 41% of the total.

Of course, the numbers have still risen sharply since 2015, when a total of 219,030 permits were issued, with Indians securing just 31,920 or 14.5% of the total.