Hongkongers caught using suspicious qualifications for Canadian immigration

Several Hongkongers applied for a Canadian immigration pathway using illegitimately obtained academic qualifications, including a candidate found to have finished a year’s worth of coursework in just two weekends, according to court papers.

The cases came to light in documents from Canada’s Federal Court, which has rejected at least seven open work permit applicants from Hong Kong over suspicious educational qualifications.

The permits are required as part of a bespoke settlement pathway for Hongkongers.

Canadian immigration authorities also cited a 2022 investigative report from the Post, which delved into how some Hong Kong applicants had bought academic qualifications to meet requirements, as evidence to question the applicants.

The Post reported at the time that dozens of emigration and education consultancy firms in Hong Kong offered packages for applicants to obtain postgraduate and master’s degrees from accredited British universities in 2021 and 2022.

Some of them were promised diplomas or master of business administration (MBA) degrees from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Chichester.