Widespread immigration fraud has gone largely unchecked, allowing organized crime networks to exploit the system.

By The Bureau

In Brief by Probe International

Canada’s international student program has been overwhelmed by widespread immigration fraud, according to a new Auditor General report. Out of 153,000 students flagged as potentially non-compliant with study permit conditions, the government investigated fewer than 4,100 cases, constrained by funding that supports only about 2,000 investigations per year.

The report notes roughly 40 percent of launched investigations stalled because students failed to respond to requests for information, highlighting a severely under-resourced enforcement system unable to police the program effectively. A particularly alarming finding involves 800 individuals who entered Canada between 2018 and 2023 using fraudulent documentation or misrepresentation. Despite the detected issues, 92 percent of them were later approved for further immigration benefits: 351 out of 501 who applied for study extensions, work, or visitor permits; 105 out of 124 permanent residence applicants; and many of the 110 who filed asylum claims.

Separate immigration streams operating independently without properly flagging prior fraud, allowing organized crime networks—exploiting forged paperwork, fake letters of acceptance, and trafficked employment documents—to move individuals systematically toward permanent status or citizenship.

The report also notes 47,175 international students listed as missing, amid a letter-of-acceptance verification process that flagged only 1.4 percent of over 841,000 applications for potential fraud.

The Auditor General criticized the lack of any concrete plan by the department to act on detected fraud after permits are issued, raising concerns about national security risks tied to transnational crime, including extortion networks linked to violence in cities like Surrey and Brampton. The findings echo earlier reporting on how criminal elements have exploited the system at industrial scale with little meaningful enforcement response.

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