Toronto, May 6 -- The Canadian government has launched a pilot programme to monitor the departures of temporary residents with expired visas, including international students and visitors. This will be the first time that the Canadian government is looking at implementing an entry-exit system and follows criticism on the management of the international students programme in a report submitted by Auditor General this March. This was stated before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on Monday. Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab said, "There's an action plan happening, there's a pilot that's in process which will work towards looking at the entry and exit, departures, not just students but any temporary residents." That will also be applicable to visitors and temporary workers. The initial system, in collaboration with the Canadian Border Services Agency or CBSA, will be operational in the weeks ahead. "We're working on a process to identify and confirm when students with expired permits and no other applications in progress, have left Canada," Diab told the Committee members. She said that immigration department officers are expected to "flag and investigate" and report suspected cases of potential fraud. All the cases flagged will be reviewed by the end of this year. "Anyone who has submitted a fraudulent document in the past, will have a note on their file for future border and immigration decisions," she added. The report on International Student Programme Reforms was submitted to Parliament on March 23 by Canada's Auditor General. In a statement issued then, Auditor General Karen Hogan said, "The department needs to act on the information it has to address integrity concerns in the program." Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC is now required to investigate all alleged cases of international student permit fraud or non-compliance and provide a report based on that work by the 15th of each month to the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. On March 25, the Committee resolved that the government "ensure that all those who enter Canada on a fraudulent basis are not issued further visas". The report had pointed out that between 2023 and 2024 there were as many as 153,000 cases of temporary residents with study permits that were considered suspect. On Monday, Diab said 78% of those were found compliant, including 14% who had made asylum claims....