Canada’s rift with India continues. It’s been almost two months since Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau accused ‘agents of the government of India’ of assassinating Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Nijjar. The two countries have been in a diplomatic stand-off ever since, with trade talks suspended and Ottawa failing to provide any concrete proof behind its claim that Nijjar was killed under direction from Modi. But the possibility that Nijjar’s death was a result of gang activity between warring factions of criminal Sikh gang members in Canada has put a spotlight on the country’s growing Punjabi community and highlighted questions over Canada’s international student visa and immigration fraud.

It’s no secret that Canada is one of the most desirable countries in the world for people seeking to relocate. However, not everyone who wants to move here can make the cut, which has given rise to a shady industry of international students coming to Canada to attend colleges in the hope of securing a path to Canadian citizenship upon graduating. The government made it all too easy for would-be students to apply for international student visas, with nearly 50 per cent of all new visas being granted to Indian nationals in 2022 alone. A good number of these arrivals have come from the states of Haryana and Punjab in India, boosting the overall number of Sikhs residing in Canada.

The appeal of relocating to Canada has inevitably led to some trying to game the system: hundreds of international students from India were recently accused of having come to Canada on bogus acceptance letters. The federal government ordered their deportation. Many of the students, however, have managed to stay put, at least for now, claiming that they were victims of fraud themselves and had unwittingly used the services of a shady visa agent in India who was ultimately held responsible for the scandal.

It’s no secret that Canada is one of the most desirable countries in the world for people seeking to relocate

Many Canadians are supportive of the students: they think these youngsters have done nothing wrong and should be allowed to stay in Canada. But back in Punjab, it is clear that many people are trying to game the Canadian students visa system. In India, men and women are agreeing to ‘contract marriages’ with the aim of immigrating to Canada through the international student-to-resident pipeline. Some Punjabi men without a high school education or any in-demand skills are putting out adverts in their hometowns looking for an ‘IELTS (International English Language Testing System) bride’: Punjabi women who are increasingly more educated and qualified, as compared to the men, in securing a highly coveted international student visa to Canada. As part of the marriage agreement, the groom and his family pay for all expenses related to applying for and sponsoring the bride to get to Canada. They then continue to support her financially as she completes her studies – typically at a ballooning number of for-profit colleges — and then subsequently applies for permanent resident status, after which she can sponsor her husband from Punjab to join her in Canada.

In an ironic twist of faith, some of these men who sent their contract brides to Canada are now finding themselves on the receiving end of a fraud. In these cases, the wife cuts contact with her partner after finishing her studies. She then applies for a Canadian PR for herself, effectively ghosting these husbands and denying them their golden ticket to Canada. Even for those men who are able to successfully move to Canada, the marriage can soon disintegrate, with both husband and wife living largely separate lives once they’re reunited in the promised land.

All this is being orchestrated right under the Canadian government’s nose, which is why, last week, Canada’s immigration minister announced changes to how international students apply for (and get accepted to study at) Canadian institutions. However, the new policies won’t do much to address the growing number of international students coming here with sham contract marriage funds only to sponsor their spouses who don’t have much to offer in addressing Canada’s labour and skills shortage. Trudeau’s government, however, doesn’t seem to care much about cracking down on this loophole.

Unless Canadians start asking hard questions and implementing much needed reforms to how we approve people to move here, those looking to get to Canada’s shores through backwater channels are going to continue to undermine the integrity of our immigration system and rule of law.