Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
India

Punjabi Student Arrested, Facing Deportation In Canada For ‘Working Beyond Stipulated Hours’

Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 May, 2019 08:38 PM

    Jobandeep Sandhu, an international student from Punjab, India, was arrested on the side of Ontario’s Highway 401 for working too much. Now he could be deported.

     

    On Dec. 13, 2017, while driving a commercial vehicle between Montreal and Toronto, Sandhu, 22, was pulled over by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer at the side of Highway 401 for a “routine traffic stop,” a report said.


    After a few minutes and with little explanation, he claims he was arrested, handcuffed and placed in the back seat of an OPP squad car.


    While the background check of Sandhu showed he had no criminal history till the time of his arrest, the perusal of his driver log book revealed that he had worked “way beyond’ the stipulated 20 hours a week allowed to any international student in Canada by the Canadian government.


    The Canadian rules stipulated that the international students studying in Canada could work up to 20 hours a week “off campus” without a separate work visa.



    During summer vacations and scheduled breaks, they are, however, allowed to work full time.


    While Sandhu has pleaded that by working full time he could afford his studies, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has said he was “inadmissible” to Canada for having breached the terms of his study permit and that the decision regarding his impending deportation was even upheld by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.


    He has been pleading he had committed no crime in Canada “except for working” and had “never lied” about it.


    To save himself from the impending deportation, Sandhu has urged the government of Canada that too high tuition and living costs of roughly 27,000 (CAD) per annum had made him work beyond the allocated work hours.


    He has pleaded before the Canadian authorities that he did not work initially after landing in Canada as his parents had covered his expenditure by exhausting their lifetime savings and they even had to attain loans from private lenders at a high rate of interest.


    He said he had started working full time—roughly up to 35-40 hours a week—only when he had switched colleges and when his schedule had undergone a change.


    He has also pleaded that he had to work more than stipulated hours for he had to bear the tuition and expenses of his brother who too had landed in Canada as an international student.



    On the other hand, the stance of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been that limiting off campus work to 20 hours per week during session was aimed at offering an opportunity to students to gain valuable workplace experience in the country and to earn some money as well.


    When Sandhu was arrested he was just 10 days away from finishing his diploma mechanical engineering at Mississauga-based Canadore College.


    Experts in the field of study abroad say though it was not unusual for any police official to report suspected immigration breaches to the CBSA, the authorities “went beyond the brief” if Sandhu’s case was seen from the law enforcement angle.


    The Ontario Provincial Police, however, has not responded to Sandhu’s claims.


    Before 2006, international students in Canada were only allowed to work on campus. But, after a number of pilot projects by the then Stephen Harper-led Conservative government, it had launched the Off-Campus Work Permit Programme allowing foreign students to apply for permits for working up to 20 hours a week after having completed six months of their studies.


    In 2014, the Harper government had further relaxed the rules by waiving the condition of a separate work permit thus allowing students to start working as soon as they arrived in Canada.


    The experts however, have cautioned that anyone wanting to work full time in Canada should apply for a work visa and not a study permit.

     

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Sam Pitroda Should Be Ashamed Of His Comments On '84 Riots, Says Rahul Gandhi

    Sam Pitroda's remarks on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots last week is "absolutely wrong and he should apologise to the nation for it"

    Sam Pitroda Should Be Ashamed Of His Comments On '84 Riots, Says Rahul Gandhi

    Will Fight For Justice Of 1984 Anti-Sikh Riot Victims: Modi

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he would fight for justice for the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims and blamed the previous Congress governments in the Centre for not delivering justice in 35 long years.

    Will Fight For Justice Of 1984 Anti-Sikh Riot Victims: Modi

    Dharmendra Says He Would Not Have Let Son Sunny Deol Contest Polls Had He Known Sunil Jakhar Is In The Fray

    "Balram Jakhar was like my brother. Had I known his son Sunil Jakhar was contesting from Gurdaspur, I would have not allowed Sunny (to contest against him)," the 83-year-old told.

    Dharmendra Says He Would Not Have Let Son Sunny Deol Contest Polls Had He Known Sunil Jakhar Is In The Fray

    Close Shave For Sunny Deol As His Convoy Collides With 3 Cars On Gurdaspur Highway

    BJP's Gurdaspur candidate Sunny Deol had a close shave today after the tyre of the vehicle he was traveling in burst on the Amritsar-Gurdaspur national highway.

    Close Shave For Sunny Deol As His Convoy Collides With 3 Cars On Gurdaspur Highway

    Here's Why This Indian Family Decided To Hold Son's Wedding Ceremony Without A Bride

    Ajay Barot, a 27-year-old with a learning disability, always wanted a grand wedding but was unable to find a partner. So his family in the western Indian state of Gujarat pooled resources to throw him a big wedding party and the entire village joined in to make Barot happy.  

    Here's Why This Indian Family Decided To Hold Son's Wedding Ceremony Without A Bride

    Shocking Moment: A Bear Tumbles Off A Cliff And Dies In River Below After It Is Pelted With Rocks By Kashmiri Villagers

    In a shocking in-human incident, a brown bear may or may not have lost his life after people started pelting stones in Drass area of Kargil district.

    Shocking Moment: A Bear Tumbles Off A Cliff And Dies In River Below After It Is Pelted With Rocks By Kashmiri Villagers