PUNCH
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has asked Nigerian student Lola Akinlade to leave the country over a fake acceptance letter she used to obtain a study visa and work permit.
Akinlade, who graduated with a diploma in Social Services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, shared her bitter experience with CBC News on Thursday.
According to her, she was unaware that the acceptance letter provided by an agent for the University of Regina in 2016 was fake until she was contacted by the IRCC a few weeks before her graduation from her new institution.
The mother of two noted that while receiving her diploma, she felt both happiness and worry upon realising that she had allegedly relied on a fraudulent document to secure her study permit, adding, “I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma.”
In an interview with the Canadian news platform, she said, “When the IRCC contacted me, I requested them to re-examine my case, arguing that I was a victim of a ‘rogue agent’ who supplied me with a fake acceptance letter to the Canadian school.
“Please review my file. I just want this to be resolved.”
Akinlade stated that the process of moving to travel to and study in Canada started in 2015 while she was working as a medical sales representative at a pharmaceutical company in Lagos, with a business administration degree from a Nigerian university.
She recounted meeting a man at her office who claimed to be an immigration consultant and offered to guide her through the process of becoming an international student by applying for a master’s degree in business administration.
Akinlade explained that she did not specify a particular university to the agent, only stating that she wanted to study at a reputable Canadian institution.
She described how she provided the agent with documents such as her passport and university transcripts, along with payment. Several months later, he provided her with a study permit for Canada, plane tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina.
“I flew to Canada in late December 2016, expecting to start classes in January 2017. However, I was stopped in Winnipeg en route to Regina when I received a call from the agent, who told me there were no spaces available at the university and that I would have to go on a waitlist.
