Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has ordered Nigerian student Lola Akinlade and her family to leave the country. This stems from her use of a fake acceptance letter to obtain a study visa and work permit.
A Bitter Experience
Lola Akinlade, who earned a diploma in Social Services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, recounted her ordeal to CBC News. She discovered the fraudulent nature of her acceptance letter from the University of Regina in 2016 only weeks before her graduation.
“I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma,” Akinlade shared. She had no idea the letter provided by an immigration agent was fake until the IRCC reached out to her. Akinlade had moved to Canada with her family, only to face the possibility of deportation.
The Unfolding of the Fraud
In 2015, Akinlade, a medical sales representative in Lagos with a business administration degree, met an immigration consultant at her office. This consultant offered to help her become an international student in Canada. She provided her documents and payment to the agent, who later handed her a study permit, plane tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina.
When she arrived in Canada in December 2016, she was informed by the agent that there were no spaces available at the university and she would be placed on a waitlist. Akinlade then sought admission independently and was accepted into Nova Scotia Community College in 2017 for a social services program.
It wasn’t until two years later that she contacted the University of Regina after receiving a notice from the IRCC about the fake letter. The university confirmed the letter’s fraudulent status.
Struggles and Consequences
Akinlade’s attempts to rectify the situation have been in vain. The agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, admitted to providing the acceptance letter but claimed it came from a company called Success Academy Education Consult. Adegoke denied misleading Akinlade about her enrollment status at the University of Regina.
Due to the fraudulent letter, Akinlade lost her study permit and was denied both a postgraduate work permit and a temporary resident permit. Her husband, Samson Akinlade, and their eight-year-old son, David, who joined her in Nova Scotia in 2018, have also lost their temporary resident status. Their younger son, born in Canada in 2021, has citizenship but lacks medical coverage because of his parents’ status.
“We’ve been surviving on our savings, and I don’t know how long we can continue doing that,” Akinlade said. “It’s really, really hard.”
The Akinlade family’s future in Canada remains uncertain as they navigate the fallout from the fraudulent visa. Akinlade has appealed to the IRCC to reconsider her case, insisting she was a victim of a rogue agent and unaware of the document’s fraudulent nature.
Source: Punch
