Punjab Government is now your foreign study agent
The Punjab Government will now provide free counselling foryoungsters wishing to go abroad for studying. So now your government is yourstudy visa agent.
Who is spearheading this public service?
Charanjit Singh Channi, Minister of Technical Educational& industrial Training, Punjab was always aware of the pain of his peopleand for the last three years was tweaking the system to ensure that no persongets cheated.
Why?
The government has always been aware of the mountains ofproblems that fall on any family which is deceived by visa agents.
At such a young age, when the dreams of a boy or girl to goabroad to a country of their choice, live the exciting life of an internationalstudent, and earn prosperity not only for himself and his family, but hisnation as well.
Further, a private business may have vested interests whileadvising a prospective student about the options available and suitable to him.The government will ensure that the interests of the student are paramount andno effort is left to secure the brightest future for the student, claims CharanjitSingh Channi.
This is not a small industry
The immigration industry is not a small industry.
Sources inform that every year about two lakh students fromPunjab go abroad. What are their choices of nations to go to? Canada is thenumber one choice of all students, and others are Australia, New Zealand, andEngland.
Now, let’s look at some numbers about the money involved.Sources inform that about Rs 13.5 lakh is the money that a student pays persemesters and a student has about three- four semesters in his course.
The agent who handles this, and this is the real cash cownot the processing fees, receives from 15% onwards of the payment made by thestudent.
Now, save on this commission with Punjab Government. Youwill get this commission sent by your educational institution back, claims CharanjitSingh Channi.
Eyes full of dreams
Punjabis have always dreamed of foreign lands and every boyor girl of Punjab hears about stories of those who have struggled and made itbig abroad while growing up.
Punjabi art including songs and movies are full of storiesthat express a Punjabi’s desire to create his dream life in a country of hischoice.
Inspired by many reasons and a passion to improve thelifestyle of themselves and their families, most of them decide they too wantto tread the same path and study abroad.
The frauds and the pain are real
Every few weeks we got to learn of an agent destroying thedreams and the financial back-bone of scores of families by making promises,taking cash, closing shop, and not being found.
But now, this will stop. How? Because our state government,with its intention to serve and facilitate prosperity for everyone, will seethat everything is handled by it and no one’s aspirations are broken.
Is this real?
Yes, no fraud, authentic unbiased counselling, and gettingback the college or university’s commission. All this will be reality.
You need to know the links and the dates, and they arepresented near the end.
How the fraud is done?
The industry is founded on dreams and aspirations of youngpeople. In Punjab, there are two types of private agents. One is not havinglicense and is operating illegally. The other is having license and isoperating legally.
However, the license does not preclude or deter privatebusinessmen from exploiting students.
Previous attempts at safeguarding people
The government was always aware of the issues and wasbringing about changes to help young people achieve their dreams without thepossibility of fraud.
License for running an immigration office or company wasmade mandatory. The fee for license is Rs 25,000. In hindsight, it is now clearthat neither this amount was sufficient nor the process of getting the licensestrict enough.
In a way committing a fraud of Rs 25 lakh required an entryfee of Rs 25 thousand and many businessmen chose to bypass that also and runoffice illegally.
Theatrics
It is an opinion that to calm the victims and the public theraids which are conducted to identify and prosecute illegal agents is a show.
This school of thought puts forward the idea that the raidsare conducted and many scrupulous businesses are closed, but what those who areopenly exploiting students even if they have a license.
The driver is asleep at the wheel
The police department and the civil administrationdepartment too are believed to be at fault in enabling the sorry state ofaffairs and making the ambitious dreams of so many young boys and girls ofPunjab difficult.
FIR (First Information Report) by a victim of fraud by avisa agent is made by the police department, but action? The reader will concurthat justice delayed is justice denied.
Hitting those to whom it hurts the most
Most of the youngsters who nurture the dream of studyingabroad are not from very wealthy families. Moreover, the fees demanded by theagents and the college or university abroad are back-breaking for most of themiddle-class anyway.
The father and mother of the student may have to take loansor even go ask help from the clandestine part of this industry to show fundsfor the study visa.
Long story short is that most Punjabis have to go to extremelengths to arrange the cash to satisfy the demands of the private agents.
Big fish had always been safe
A characteristic of all operations presented to keep theindustry clean has been that the big businesses have always been safe even iftheir violations are public knowledge.
There is hope and it is yours
But now is the time to say good riddance to all thesenightmares. Punjab Government is your new agent and your future is theirresponsibility.
Charanjit Singh Channi under the leadership of Captain AmarinderSingh want a better Punjab and you, the young boy or girl who dreams to studyabroad, is an essential part of this vision.
The process – Dates and links
The department is called Foreign Study and Placement Cell(FS & PC).
You have to register from 21st to 25thFebruary, 2021.
The first round of counselling will be held from 1stto 31st March, 2021.
Online visit http://tinyurl.com/foreignstudyjaland enter your details. For more information websites https://pbemployment.punjab.gov.inor http://www.pgrkam.com
Or offline, visit your district’sDistrict Bureau of Employment & Enterprises.