Lola Akinlade, a Nigerian student, faces deportation from Canada after Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) discovered that the acceptance letter used to obtain her study visa and work permit was fraudulent. Akinlade, who graduated with a diploma in Social Services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, shared her distressing experience with CBC News.
She recounted that she was unaware of the fake acceptance letter provided by an agent for the University of Regina in 2016 until IRCC contacted her just weeks before her graduation. “I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma,” she said.
Akinlade explained that she was approached by a man claiming to be an immigration consultant while working as a medical sales representative in Lagos in 2015. She provided the agent with her documents, including her passport and university transcripts, along with payment. She received a study permit, air tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina months later.
Upon her arrival in Canada, Akinlade was told by the agent that she would have to go on a waitlist as there were no spaces available at the university. She stayed with relatives in Winnipeg until she was accepted at Nova Scotia Community College for social services in September 2017. It wasn’t until two years later, when contacted by IRCC, that she learned the acceptance letter was fake.
The agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, confirmed to CBC News that he provided the letter but claimed it was supplied by Success Academy Education Consult in Lagos. 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, and their eight-year-old son, David, who joined her in 2018, have also lost their temporary resident status. Their younger son, born in Canada in 2021, lacks medical coverage due to his parents’ status.
Akinlade has requested IRCC to re-examine her case, arguing that she was a victim of a rogue agent. “Please review my file. I just want this to be resolved,” she pleaded.
