Canadian Border Officers Conduct ‘Raids’, Checks at Demonstration Site
The issue is reportedly linked in part to an immigration consultancy based in Jalandhar, Punjab
13 August, 2026 – Chadigarh : Officers from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) visited — ‘raided’ — a protest site in Calgary where international graduates have been demonstrating, with participants reporting that officials checked their immigration documents.
The CBSA is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, investigating potential violations and carrying out removals across Canada.
The protest involves more than 1,000 international graduates, most of them Indian students from Punjab. The demonstrators have been protesting on the streets and participating in a chain hunger strike for nearly 10 days after their Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) applications were widely rejected. They are urging authorities to reconsider their cases, saying they enrolled in and completed their programmes believing they were eligible for the permits.
The issue is reportedly linked in part to an immigration consultancy based in Jalandhar, Punjab. Families in the state often make substantial financial investments to send their children abroad, and the affected graduates say they paid significant tuition fees under the understanding that they would qualify for post-study work permits.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has said its June 2026 update merely clarified existing eligibility requirements for non-credit programmes and did not change the core criteria for PGWP eligibility.
The graduates, however, argue that their applications were submitted in good faith based on earlier interpretations of the rules and should be reassessed.
The ongoing dispute has expanded from individual application rejections into a major public demonstration, drawing reactions from Canadian immigration authorities and the Alberta provincial government as affected graduates seek legal remedies and administrative reviews.
The Tribune