Overseas students in US to get help if university involved in immigration scam

NEW DELHI: In the wake of cases of universities in the US getting involved in immigration scams, the US government is working on measures to help genuine overseas students who are enrolled with these institutions and find themselves in trouble.

"Genuine overseas students who are in the US and enrolled with these institutions find themselves in great trouble when the authorities crack down on them. In America, long-term steps are being taken to address the problems faced by the genuine students to help them relocate to other institutions," Julia Stanley, minister counsellor for consular affairs at the US Embassy in Delhi, told ET. She was unveiling the new visa processing system in India that simplifies fee payment and appointment schedules.

In the last one year, the US Citizenship & Immigration Services has cracked down on many colleges involved in immigration scams. The first college to be investigated and later shut down was the Tri-Valley University in California. More than 1000 Indian students were affected by the closure. Later, US authorities approved the transfer of 435 Indians students of TVU to other institutions.

Many were denied permission top transfer after investigations of visa fraud. The University of Northern Virginia in Washington DC suburbs was also investigated for visa fraud. Here too the largest number of the 2400 students were from Andhra Pradesh.In this case, the investigations were against the university and not the students and their student visa status was maintained. Most transferred to other institutions

Very recently, 400 Indian students of Herguan University in Sunnyvale, California, faced uncertainty as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a notice to withdraw accreditation. Students had to either transfer to another Student and Exchange Visitor Programme-certified institution or return home.

"The US Embassy in India is also looking into the issue of student visa fraud and we strongly advise Indian students looking at opportunities in the US to use the facilities offered by Education USA here in selecting suitable universities," Ms Stanley said

Last week, UK's London Metropolitan University, too, lost its status to enrol foreign students with the British government having set up a task force under the business and education departments to identify and help genuine students to find placements in other institutions. "Our priority is helping the genuine and innocent students to find alternative institutions and remain in the UK. So far, the clock has not started ticking on the 60-day period within which they have to leave the country and we are committed to support them," a senior official at the British High Commission in Delhi told ET.

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