Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal announced on June 8, 2023, that the Punjab government will provide free legal assistance to Indian students facing deportation in Canada. It has been reported that 700 Indian students, predominantly from Punjab, are facing deportation from Canada due to the discovery of fraudulent admission offer letters to educational institutions.

Dhaliwal also revealed that he has written letters to all Punjab-origin Canadian lawmakers to intervene in the issue of these students to secure their future. Additionally, he appealed to the Indian Foreign Minister, Dr S Jaishankar regarding the matter.

Appreciating the Canadian government for its efforts to help the innocent students, Dhaliwal in his letter to Canadian Minister Sean Fraser stated, “Your government has stated that the students would be perceived as the victims of the fraud that has been perpetuated by some unscrupulous immigration agent. It has been stated that the goal of your government is not to punish the students, but to reach to the real culprits in this preposterous fraud. I, on the behalf of my government, assure you that you will have full co-operation of our government in reaching to the bottom of this matter. We will deal with those responsible for this scam with full force of the law.”

Highlighting the plight of the students from his state he further said, “Some of the families have mortgaged the meagre agricultural land they had to pay the tuition fee of their wards. The students have invested 5-6 defining years of their lives in Canada. If they are deported to India, they will face financial ruin, social ridicule, mental health issues and tremendous other hardships.”

The Minister’s letter comes after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured that his government will take steps to evaluate cases of around 700 Indian students in the country who are facing deportation on grounds of ‘fake college admission offer letters’.