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Immigration Fraudsters Brijesh Mishra Pleads Guilty And Sentenced To Three Years In Jail
A known immigration fraudster involved in defrauding international students, primarily from India, pleaded guilty to all charges including providing them with fake college acceptance letters. Brijesh Mishra, who was accused by the federal government of being the main culprit in the thousands of such cases investigated by Canadian authorities, has been sentenced to three years in jail. He will serve 19 more months following time already spent in jail. Mishra will be deported following his jail sentence as under Canadian law such crime and sentencing automatically means deportation. His lawyer, Gagan Nahal, told CityNews that Mishra pleaded guilty to three of the five charges in court Wednesday. Nahal confirmed Mishra’s deportation.
By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor DESIBUZZCanada
With News Files
Nahal said he expects Mishra to be granted parole in a month, after which he will face inadmissibility and deportation.
SURREY – A known immigration fraudster involved in defrauding international students, primarily from India, pleaded guilty to all charges including providing them with fake college acceptance letters.
Brijesh Mishra, who was accused by the federal government of being the main culprit in the thousands of such cases investigated by Canadian authorities, has been sentenced to three years in jail. He will serve 19 more months following time already spent in jail.
Mishra will be deported following his jail sentence as under Canadian law such crime and sentencing automatically means deportation.
His lawyer, Gagan Nahal, told CityNews that Mishra pleaded guilty to three of the five charges in court Wednesday. Nahal confirmed Mishra’s deportation.
Nahal said he expects Mishra to be granted parole in a month, after which he will face inadmissibility and deportation.
“His legal issues are concluded in Canada, in terms of the charges he was facing, but we did provide documents to the court where he’s facing a minimum of seven separate charges — six of them under the Indian Penal Code, which is equivalent to a Canadian criminal code. And one of them is under the Punjab job travel act. And there are warrants issued for his arrest back in India. So if he is deported and the moment he landed, he’s likely to be arrested right away and his legal proceeding in India will begin,” said Nahal.
He doesn’t know how Mishra intends to plead in Indian criminal courts.
The court accepted a three-year prison sentence on top of the nearly 12 months Mishra had already been held in custody.
Mishra was arrested in Surrey in June 2023 and was facing five separate charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act — four of which stemmed from the Punjab region of India and one from Canada.
He has since been in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge.
Mishra faced five charges that included misrepresenting facts to induce error or counsel/communicate for immigration to Canada. Four of those were connected to his immigration agency in Jalandhar, India, while one count was for overstaying his welcome in Surrey.
CBSA linked him to providing numerous fraudulent university acceptance letters to prospective students between 2016 and 2020.
The court heard that in 2019 Mishra opened his immigration agency, called Education Migration Services, after working for other immigration consultant agencies since 2016. Crown counsel told the courts that he was not authorized to provide immigration consultancy to people in Amritsar and Jalandhar in Punjab – and that only licensed lawyers and consultants are able to charge a fee for this type of work, reported Black Press.
Prosecutors argued that Mishra collected university tuition fees, as well as IRCC and visa fees from students; usually in cash with no receipts. He then provided them with fake admission letters to Canadian universities, along with fraudulent documents included in a completed visa package for them.
When the students arrived in Canada and tried to enrol, they were not admitted to class. When following up with Mishra, he would simply advise them to enrol in a different university or wait for the next semester to join the current class. In some cases, he helped them re-enrol and partially refund a portion of the tuition fee, reported Black Press.
It was in March 2023 that CBSA caught students who had used Mishra’s fraudulent letters while trying to secure permanent residency.
Some were ordered to leave Canada while those who had genuine intent to study in Canada were granted a three-year temporary resident permit as CBSA continued its investigation.
Nahal said he feels for the victims, and Mishra appears to share in that sentiment.
“He didn’t deny or minimize his role. He’s content to remain in custody and the fact that he did plead — not to all accounts, but most of them — demonstrated that he is remorseful.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how bad the consequences would be for my family. I cannot change the past, but I can make sure I don’t do it in the future,” he said.
In her decision, Sangha noted that Mishra’s actions could cause additional ramifications, including increased racism toward the South Asian community in Canada, and that his breach of trust undermines public trust in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, reported Black Press.
