The People’s Court in Da Nang City, central Vietnam on Wednesday opened a hearing against the director of a local company and his 17 accomplices for helping others illegally travel to Canada and forging documents.

On September 25, 2023, police at Da Nang International Airport found that Nguyen Tan Luc, 29, and Nguyen Van Phap, 30, both residents of Da Nang, had not qualified for family-sponsored visitor visas for travel to Canada despite having filed for such visas through the Canadian government’s online portal.

Both Luc and Phap confessed that they had gotten their visas thanks to the support from Star Light Co. Ltd., headquartered in Quang Binh Province, north-central Vietnam. 

Police at Da Nang International Airport transferred the case to investigators from the Da Nang Department of Public Security.

Star Light Co. Ltd. was established in 2008 and specializes in providing consulting in overseas study and labor export to Europe, Australia, and Canada. The company’s director is Phung Ngoc Hung.

As the Canadian government allows visa applications to be submitted online, Hung and his staff counterfeited documents regarding the asset ownership of their customers to help them obtain visas.

The documents were later transferred to Star Light’s partners who further adjusted them, forged more documents to prove customers’ financial capacity, and submitted the documents online.

The ring faked documents to ​legitimize visa applications for 36 Vietnamese people.

Global Reach Trading Company, a partner of Star Light, counterfeited documents for eight others who also sought to travel to Canada.

A group of three individuals, also partners of Star Light, illegally completed dossiers for travel to Canada for another customer.

In total, they forged documents to complete visa applications for 45 Vietnamese citizens.

After Luc and Phap were caught at Da Nang International Airport, Hung asked his staff to destroy data in his company’s computers and phones, obstructing the investigation.

Investigators later found 42 out of the 45 visa applications.

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