Canada immigration fraud: Indian agent sentenced to 3 years in jail

Brijesh Mishra was arrested in the Canada immigration fraud case and sentenced to 3 years in jail. He said sorry in the court.

As per reports, an Indian immigration agent, Brijesh Mishra, cheated Indian students by issuing fake college admissions to them. He pleaded guilty in Canada and was sentenced to three years in prison. He is charged with communicating false information and misrepresentation under Canada’s Immigration Refugee Protection Act.

As per the pie news report, he was arrested in June 2023 and hence will have to only spend 19 more months in jail as he has already served since his arrest. He was arrested after a Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) investigation tied him to dozens of fraudulent acceptance letters for colleges and universities in Canada. These letters were provided between the year 2016 to 2020.

He was arrested in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023. He went to Canada on a tourist visa, which had expired at the time of his arrest.

Fraud immigration agent apologised in Court

He was presented before the Vancouver courtroom. He was wearing a red jumpsuit and apologised for all the offences. As per CBC News report, he was found guilty of three charges under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, including misrepresentation and communicating false information.

He said in the courtroom, "I’m sorry. I cannot change the past, but I can make sure I do not do it again in the future."

The judge agreed to the joint sentencing submission issued by the Crown and defence lawyers asking for three years in prison. The judge said that the period was sufficient. Gagan Nahal, Mishra’s defence lawyer said, “I would say he did show genuine remorse."

After he serves his sentence in Canada, he will be deported to India where he reportedly will face further criminal charges including of human smuggling offence. It is a serious charge for which the maximum penalty is death.

Modus operandi details

The students came to know about Mishra through family and friends. He advised students that they must apply to multiple schools so that there will be more chances of acceptance of their application. He said that he will apply on their behalf. Most of the students were from a modest background in Punjab and wanted to study in Canada.

The students provided him with passport information, transcripts and English language test results. He used to inform the students that they were selected for one of the schools and asked them to collect a letter of acceptance from his office. He collected fees from the students for application fees, tuition costs, immigration fees and consulting fees.

When students used to come to Canada to apply through fake acceptance letters, they used to find that they were not accepted by the school. When the family again used to contact the agent he either used to avoid the family or cheat them further by assisting in admission to another school.

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