International student in Canada on expired permit allowed to stay despite attempted auto theft

People are seen lining up at a Citizenship and Immigration Canada office. Photo by Handout /Immigration Canada Services

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An international student who was kicked out of college but remained in Canada on an expired student permit has been allowed to stay in the country after it was determined that, although he had participated in a crime, it was not an organized crime and he was merely “a dupe.”

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The case, which was heard earlier this year, involved a man who came to Canada from India on a study permit in 2022 when he was 21 years old.

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“He was enrolled in a college but after two semesters ended up homeless, jobless and, by his own admission, addicted to weed,” case documents said. “The study permit expired on July 30, 2024 so he was also without status in Canada when the relevant events took place.”

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Those events involved the attempted theft of a BMW from a dealership in Vancouver. The man said he had become acquainted with someone who offered to help him get a job in construction and arranged a flight from Ontario to Vancouver.

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“The Respondent traveled to Vancouver and was taken to a basement apartment by a person he did not know and whose face he could not see behind a breathing mask,” according to court documents. “The next day, September 21, 2024, that person gave the Respondent better clothes to wear, and said a favour was needed before going to the promised job.

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“He took the Respondent to an auto dealership and explained along the way how to transact with a fake ID and credit card for a previously arranged purchase of a 2019 BMW 330 priced at $37,252. Everything did not go as hoped. The fake ID was detected, the dealer staff called police, the acquaintance disappeared, and the Respondent got arrested.”

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Local police investigated, but the Crown prosecutor did not pursue a criminal charge and the man was referred to Canada Border Services Agency, which prepared a report that alleged he was inadmissible to Canada for participating in organized crime.

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However, the Immigration Division rejected the allegation. The Minister of Public Safety then appealed.

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In her ruling, tribunal member Maryanne Kingma wrote: “I find that the Respondent was a dupe whose personal circumstances led him into trouble. It was trouble that a local prosecutor did not consider worth pursuing for a domestic criminal charge.”

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She added:  “He went along with the auto dealership events as they unfolded on the day of execution.”

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Kingma also said of the man: “He was not a member of a criminal organization or a group that planned and organized criminal activity. He did not knowingly participate in organized criminal activity. He was coerced into domestic criminal actions that did not even lead to a criminal charge.”

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She found that the man’s intention on travelling to Vancouver was to solve his immediate survival problems, “not be part of organized national or international auto theft crimes.”