UK cracks down on visa cheaters

This just broke on The International News, an online news source that focuses on international students across the world. I have condensed and edited this story to save you time. Three UK universities and 57 private colleges are now banned from sponsoring new international students. Investigations found organized criminals were falsifying English language test for student visa applicants.UK Cracks Down on Visa CheatersImmigration minister, James Brokenshire, told the House of Commons that he was taking these actions due to a detailed and wide-ranging investigation into actions by organised criminals to falsify English language tests for student visa applicants.The BBC Panorama exposed in February a systematic cheating in tests from an organisation called the Educational Testing Service (ETS). More than 29,000 invalid results and 19,000 questionable results had been identified so far, though “it is likely that the true totals will be higher,” said the Immigration minister, who condemned the organised criminality behind the fraud.Who is ETS?ETS is a nonprofit, whose mission is to advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. They develop, administer and score more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® General and Subject Tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at more than 9,000 locations worldwide.Glyndwr University and Others ExposedThe Home Office suspended the highly trusted status of Glyndwr University, in north Wales, which enables it to sponsor the visas of non-European Union students.Some 230 students sponsored by Glyndwr are identified as having invalid test results provided by ETS – a figure rising to 350 if questionable scores are counted. The Home Office has also told the University of Bedfordshire and the University of West London that they are no longer allowed to sponsor new students pending further investigations which will decide whether they too should be suspended, Brokenshire added.At the University of West London, the number of sponsored students with invalid scores stood at 210 – rising to 290 if questionable ones were included, he said. In addition, Brokenshire said the licences of 57 private further education colleges to recruit foreign students has been suspended, including the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF).More Abuse DiscoveredFurther abuse was also taking place in the London sub-campuses of other UK universities, but they had not been suspended as they were taking steps to resolve the issues, Brokenshire added.However, the Quality Assurance Agency had been asked to examine the London campuses to see whether any further action should be taken against the parent institutions, he said.Work and Visa ProblemsImmigration officers also established that a number of overseas university students were earning more than £20,000 a year despite the rule that they must not work more than 20 hours a week during term time, he said.One university student was working a 60-hour week for six months, he said.Overseas students at several private colleges are not allowed to work, yet one college — LSBF — has 290 foreign students who worked and paid tax last year, he added.A Glyndwr spokesman said the university was “deeply upset” that its sponsor licence had been suspended and was working with the UK Visas and Immigration “to investigate the issues raised”.Bedfordshire said it had audited all current students who have progressed from ETS and this enabled it to reassure the UKVI that there was no evidence of any organized attack on the university’s compliance with immigration rules.What does this mean for international students thinking about going to the UK for college? Well, there may be less options to choose from based on these latest penalties.And there may be new laws or regulations created based on these findings, which could result in the UK being even less friendly than in the past and everybody knows they are not as friendly to international students as other countries.GoUSA!– Mike