Exclusive | Emigration special: Hongkongers keen to move to Canada offered MBAs for cash, without classes or homework
- For the tidy sum of up to HK$250,000, emigration firms offer no-show degrees and experts to write dissertations for ‘postgraduate students’
- Universities deny involvement, while the Canadian consulate warns that migrants who commit fraud risk deportation
Hongkongers eager to emigrate to Canada are being offered British postgraduate diplomas and degrees in as little as six months, without having to attend a single class or turn in any work of their own.
Besides charging a hefty sum of between HK$120,000 and HK$250,000 (US$15,380 to US$32,050) in course fees, several emigration consultancy firms claim they will get all coursework done for HK$30,000 to HK$60,000 more, using expert tutors to produce dissertations and other homework, a Post investigation has revealed.
Clients have been promised diplomas or master of business administration (MBA) degrees from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Chichester in Britain, but both told the Post they had not cooperated with emigration companies to provide Hongkongers easy qualifications for a price.
The Canadian consulate in Hong Kong also warned that immigrants could end up stripped of their citizenship or deported if any wrongdoing or fraud was discovered in their applications.
Canada was one of the Western countries that offered Hongkongers new routes for immigration after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in June of 2020.
Canada’s route, announced last February, was for those who had been employed there, with open work permits for at least a year, and had attained recognised postsecondary qualifications within the past five years.
