Dodgy Canada admissions, fees in ED's emigration probe

ED IS PROBING 4,300 TRANSACTIONS THAT ORIGINATED FROM INDIVIDUALS WHO USED VISAS FOR STUDENTS AS A ROUTE TO ENTER THE US VIA CANADA

- HT Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating an extensive network of agents and facilitators in India, the US and Canada who help people illegally enter the US after first securing bogus admissions in Canadian colleges.

Officials in the agency estimate that they have ascertained that at least 370 Indians used this route to illegally enter the US between September 2021 and August 2024, and suspect the number could be higher.

The officials cited above said the agency has found that the fees to the Canadian colleges were paid through a financial services company with around 8,500 transactions being made by Gujarat-based students in the period under investigation.

Of these 8,500 transactions, 4,300 transactions are suspicious, or "duplicate", the agency's investigations found.