Bogus student gets ILR after 10 years?

[marianne001]

I have a query that's been bugging me ever since i heard about it.

Someone I know told me about a lady who came to the UK as student (with husband and kid) but who is actually enrolled on a bogus college course. The funny thing is she's been in the country for about 7 years now, and is apparently studying for a bachelor's (fake, I think). I told my friend that the HO should/would ask for receipts of their fees, etc, for the past 10 years of studying to show that they have actually paid something equal to overseas fees (i.e. not a shoddy £600 for a BA!) for their courses.

Does anyone know how it works? The thing is that one of the girl's relative and their family are doing the same thing, though they have not been in the country long.

One would assume that HO would ask for alot of documents, right? Or can spot a fake? The reason why I'm annoyed is that the person who told me is a genuine student who has paid upwards of £15,000 a year to study/live in the UK and to see people he grew up with (back home) paying a shoddy amount to a bogus school get rewarded for lying is always going to get you a little annoyed!

But it's a common occurrence, i'm sure. Any thoughts?

[Wanderer]

I have a query that's been bugging me ever since i heard about it.

Someone I know told me about a lady who came to the UK as student (with husband and kid) but who is actually enrolled on a bogus college course. The funny thing is she's been in the country for about 7 years now, and is apparently studying for a bachelor's (fake, I think). I told my friend that the HO should/would ask for receipts of their fees, etc, for the past 10 years of studying to show that they have actually paid something equal to overseas fees (i.e. not a shoddy £600 for a BA!) for their courses.

Does anyone know how it works? The thing is that one of the girl's relative and their family are doing the same thing, though they have not been in the country long.

One would assume that HO would ask for alot of documents, right? Or can spot a fake? The reason why I'm annoyed is that the person who told me is a genuine student who has paid upwards of £15,000 a year to study/live in the UK and to see people he grew up with (back home) paying a shoddy amount to a bogus school get rewarded for lying is always going to get you a little annoyed!

But it's a common occurrence, i'm sure. Any thoughts?

I'd heard of some guys getting their Russian girlfriends here fulltime on English Courses, the guy told me one was in Liverpool and cost 1500 a year. DFES approved too, apparently. I don't really get it as I thought fulltime meant degree level in order to get the student visa.

Steve

[Wanderer]

Is the quote thing working right? I've posted twice today and it looks wrong. I've not changed anything this end...

Steve

[John]

Is the quote thing working right?

Yes, working perfectly, as long as you don't set "Disable BBCode in this post"! I have just edited your post merely to take out the check against that entry that you have set, or possibly set by default?

[marianne001]

Any more take on my questions?

[JAJ]

I have a query that's been bugging me ever since i heard about it.

Someone I know told me about a lady who came to the UK as student (with husband and kid) but who is actually enrolled on a bogus college course. The funny thing is she's been in the country for about 7 years now, and is apparently studying for a bachelor's (fake, I think). I told my friend that the HO should/would ask for receipts of their fees, etc, for the past 10 years of studying to show that they have actually paid something equal to overseas fees (i.e. not a shoddy £600 for a BA!) for their courses.

Does anyone know how it works? The thing is that one of the girl's relative and their family are doing the same thing, though they have not been in the country long.

One would assume that HO would ask for alot of documents, right? Or can spot a fake? The reason why I'm annoyed is that the person who told me is a genuine student who has paid upwards of £15,000 a year to study/live in the UK and to see people he grew up with (back home) paying a shoddy amount to a bogus school get rewarded for lying is always going to get you a little annoyed!

But it's a common occurrence, i'm sure. Any thoughts?

It would be interesting to know whether an ILR application under the 10 yr rule would be subject to the person having complied with all the conditions of their visa.

[Thandia]

I have a query that's been bugging me ever since i heard about it.

Someone I know told me about a lady who came to the UK as student (with husband and kid) but who is actually enrolled on a bogus college course. The funny thing is she's been in the country for about 7 years now, and is apparently studying for a bachelor's (fake, I think). I told my friend that the HO should/would ask for receipts of their fees, etc, for the past 10 years of studying to show that they have actually paid something equal to overseas fees (i.e. not a shoddy £600 for a BA!) for their courses.

Does anyone know how it works? The thing is that one of the girl's relative and their family are doing the same thing, though they have not been in the country long.

One would assume that HO would ask for alot of documents, right? Or can spot a fake? The reason why I'm annoyed is that the person who told me is a genuine student who has paid upwards of £15,000 a year to study/live in the UK and to see people he grew up with (back home) paying a shoddy amount to a bogus school get rewarded for lying is always going to get you a little annoyed!

But it's a common occurrence, i'm sure. Any thoughts?

I thought "bogus" colleges were eliminated two years ago? I believe as long as someone is studying @ a college listed on the DFES approved list of registered colleges then they're not in a bogus college. It doesn't matter if the fees are lower than university ones. It just means they're able to shop around & get the best deal possible that will help them to remain in the country legally. Secondly, I don't believe the Home Office have anything to do with university fees ie. they cannot refuse to extend ur student visa just because a college is charging £1500 while a university charges £10 000. If it's on the DFES list then I assume it's kosher & I guess the HO wud check this as well?

[Wanderer]

I have a query that's been bugging me ever since i heard about it.

Someone I know told me about a lady who came to the UK as student (with husband and kid) but who is actually enrolled on a bogus college course. The funny thing is she's been in the country for about 7 years now, and is apparently studying for a bachelor's (fake, I think). I told my friend that the HO should/would ask for receipts of their fees, etc, for the past 10 years of studying to show that they have actually paid something equal to overseas fees (i.e. not a shoddy £600 for a BA!) for their courses.

Does anyone know how it works? The thing is that one of the girl's relative and their family are doing the same thing, though they have not been in the country long.

One would assume that HO would ask for alot of documents, right? Or can spot a fake? The reason why I'm annoyed is that the person who told me is a genuine student who has paid upwards of £15,000 a year to study/live in the UK and to see people he grew up with (back home) paying a shoddy amount to a bogus school get rewarded for lying is always going to get you a little annoyed!

But it's a common occurrence, i'm sure. Any thoughts?

I thought "bogus" colleges were eliminated two years ago? I believe as long as someone is studying @ a college listed on the DFES approved list of registered colleges then they're not in a bogus college. It doesn't matter if the fees are lower than university ones. It just means they're able to shop around & get the best deal possible that will help them to remain in the country legally. Secondly, I don't believe the Home Office have anything to do with university fees ie. they cannot refuse to extend ur student visa just because a college is charging £1500 while a university charges £10 000. If it's on the DFES list then I assume it's kosher & I guess the HO wud check this as well?

Doesn't it have to be 'degree' level though for issuance of an longer than six month student visa?

Steve

[marianne001]

I thought "bogus" colleges were eliminated two years ago?

I thought so too, but read here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5129404.stm

Clearly there are dozens of schools, not only language schools using the system. A BBC document was shown about a week or two ago about the problems.

Secondly, I don't believe the Home Office have anything to do with university fees ie. they cannot refuse to extend ur student visa just because a college is charging £1500 while a university charges £10 000. If it's on the DFES list then I assume it's kosher & I guess the HO wud check this as well?

I never mentioned HO having anything to do with fees, i meant that they should check to see if the fees have been paid prior to extending a person's visa. Just as WPs cannot be extended without payslips and all (right, anyone?). (Isn't it so that student's don't even need to pay their fees before they get a visa? Outside country?)

Yes, the "student" is in the country legally, but they don't want to study! That's my point- and they have contacts in the school to provide "attendance records" all made up...but they're nowhere near the school.

[Administrator]

.

We ran a short bit on this topic a couple weeks back :

UK student visas open to abuse via bogus language schools
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_07_ ... _fraud.htm

The main content from the article was researched via BBC and the Independent, who have posted on it several times for over a year now. Documentaries have been aired on BBC.

Reporting specific instances of abuse to officials and to media, such as the exact name of an institution ....

But, I fully admit our position is biased here. Our business model is based upon legal immigration.

Usually "we" don't get involved in advocacy ... but I'll go out on a limb here and suggest (strongly) that "we" do advocate legal behavior.

The Admin

[pantaiema]

Bogus students/college are quite problematic.
The college need their money, the students need a paper to prove that they are attending the course regularly. This is conspiracy theory.

Pantaiema