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Almost 50,000 bogus foreign students faked English language tests to stay in Britain
deptfordbaker
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Mail wrote:
Almost 50,000 bogus foreign students faked English language tests to stay in Britain, Immigration Minister admits
*James Brokenshire said fake foreign students abused system to stay in UK
*Exam invigilators read out answers to gangs taking tests for immigrants
*Students supposed to be in London found living as far away as Ipswich
*Despite ban on outside work some students were earning up to £20,000
Tens of thousands of bogus students faked English language tests to stay in Britain, the Government revealed today. In total nearly 50,000 immigrants fraudulently obtained official English qualifications in a 'shocking' scam run by organised criminals to beat UK border controls.
Since 2011 foreign students have had to prove they can speak English. But Immigration Minister James Brokenshire told MPs that corrupt exam invigilators read out answers to gangs of imposters sitting in for the immigrants. The Tory minister said the Government had discovered 'systematic cheating' allowing immigrants to stay in the country illegally.
Immigration enforcement officers have started work to identify migrants who are in the country illegally as a result of the fake language tests, Mr Brokenshire said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2667076/Almost-50-000-bogus-foreign-students-faked-English-language-tests-stay-Britain-Immigration-Minister-admits.html#ixzz35ZpKzBFk
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Yet still the education lobby insist we need more foreign students and that we need to tone down the negative rhetoric about them being bogus, as its making them feel unwelcome in Britain.
And if that's not enough they seem to be making a pretty good living here as well.
Work undertaken by HMRC so far has identified a number of overseas university students earning more than £20,000 a year despite the rule that they must not work more than 20 hours per week during term time.
Overseas students at privately funded further education colleges are not allowed to work at all, yet one college - the London School of Business and Finance - has 290 foreign students who worked and paid tax last year, the minister added.
Enforcement officers also identified people allegedly studying in London while their home addresses were registered as restaurants as far as away as Ipswich and Chichester. Mr Brokenshire said much of the 'worst abuse' is taking place at London campuses of universities based in other parts of the country.
These jobs are needed by British people, especially school leavers. If foreign studnets can't afford to study here, why are we taking them in the first place? Perhaps it's time to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Mention British education and people think Oxford and Cambridge, not some east London language college / visa factory. The greed of the education industry will slowly damage the reputation of British education throughout the world and the only students we will get will be those using it as a pretext to get an unskilled job here and send money home.
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Well to be fair if many aren't then why should they share the blame as those that are.
If a university is culpable of assisting in cheating the system then it should face sanction surely. Are universities 'licensed' in any way to allow overseas students ?
I'm all for clamping down but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Dont just try to blame the education lobby, Remember this from last year The Prime Minister insisted there is “no limit” on the number of foreign students allowed to come to the UK which he said would welcome them with open arms.
Speaking in India, where he is currently on a trade mission, he said that he wanted to "cement Britain as India's partner of choice".
Mr Cameron said he wanted to counter the "myth" that the UK immigration crackdown was "freezing out" those who may wish to come here from India.
He said: "There is no limit on the number of people that can come and study at British universities.
“They've got to have an English language qualification, they've got to have a place at university but there's no limit on the numbers that can come.
What do you suggest as an alternative?
In that case, if people want to silence the criticism and negativity, then the thing to do is make the system work. As long as the Mail or Express can find these flaws, it will produce negative publicity about foreign students.
I recommend.
1. All foreign students must be interviewed face to face in a foreign embassy and have their fingerprints and photograph taken.
2. All foreign students must pass through biometric visa checking machines at the border and have their prints and photo taken again and compared to what is on record and what is on their visa.
3. All foreign students are counted in and out at the border.
4. Every foreign student that does not leave before their visa expiry date, causes an automatic fine being sent to the university or college. Those that don't or can't pay are closed down.
5. English language exams are performed at a single central London testing centre with Home Office officials present.
6. All foreign students must leave. Those with job offers must return home and apply for a work visa from the embassy.
7. Foreign students are given a signing in pass that is read at the place of study. They swipe them on a machine at the start and end of lectures. It is connected to the Home Office computers, so they can check they are attending lectures and not working.
Will never happen, as the government themselves dont want all the red tape, and want students to come to this country. university or college. are not prisons so dont have a duty of care when no on campas, just the same as you cannot fine a 18 years parents for what the 18 year old does.
But the name on the visa sponsorship form is the university's / college, so why shouldn't they be legally responsible for the students they bring to this country? Same should apply to companies and people sponsoring foreign spouses.
I don't believe I did say they had a duty of care off campus. I said they should be fined if their students don't leave before the visa expires. I also said that they should prove that the students are attending the lectures they are supposed to.
As for red tape, computerisation should make the system much simpler to operate. Of course that's assuming they don't give the job of specifying, or implementing it, to civil servants.
government hasn't done diddly squat about it and NEVER WILL!
So we count a student in and then out. All that shows is they've left the country. What exactly do you do if a student is meant to have the left the UK on 31 Dec 2014, has not been counted out and is still in the UK on 1 Jan 2015 ?
How do you physically track down someone and force them to leave the UK ?
Adopting the German system might just reduce (not elimate) the problem.
Mandatory ID cards for everyone, with police having the right to stop and search anyone
Everyone registers with local police whenever they move to area - so police knows where everyone lives.
OK ... so some might find this instrustive. But ask yourselves this:
Which is more important ?
the right to travel freely around the UK without carrying ID or
the right for foreign students or immigtants (illegal or otherwise) to roam freely around the UK without carrying ID
if there isn't then there is no downside for committing the fraud. there is no other crime where the worst thing that happens to you is you don't succeed.
If someone gets caught for robbing a bank they don't just have to give the money back.
when you have just one or two problems, you can stop them. when you have a completely broken system you haven't got a chance.
anyway, it doesn't matter. the more immigrants the better. Right, Balls?
This is a not a valid question.
The point I am making is we need to:
1. Adopt the principle that all students are temporary and can not stay beyond their visa expiry date for any reason without being labelled an illegal immigrant. We are told that foreign students must be taken out of the NET migration figures because they are temporary, but 21% are still here after five years, some go straight in to jobs, some settle or marry and one was even allowed to stay on human rights grounds. I say that to reassure the public, they must all leave and return on different visas applied for in their home country at our embassies.
2. Locating, detaining and deporting them is the same issue we face with all illegals. That is why we should send the university or college the bill to cover our costs.
3. Counting is essential as we have for the first time accurate figures. If the education lobby claim that foreign students must be taken out of the NET migration figures because they are temporary, they will then have to explain the difference between the number that arrive and leave.
4. There is no need for ID's as we have both their photo, fingerprints and their details. If they are found working in a restaurant for example they will be instantly identified.
5. We are shifting the burden for the state to the people that benefit from immigration. Its easy to demand more foreign students if it makes your university rich and the taxpayer picks up the tab for all the negatives. They may not be so keen, or a least a bit more careful if the costs for bogus students come out of their pockets.
Who is going to find them working in a restaurant ? One of the diners ?
Who asks to see the ID of a waiter before offering their order of food and drinks ?
The right to reside in the country is a matter of internal law enforcement officers, not the diners in your local restaurant.
If you read the immigration articles in local online newspapers appearing every day, you will see that the border force is inspecting restaurants daily, fining owners and detaining staff. The public sometimes report the staff on the helpline. In fact some of the owners are starting to complain they have been checked several times over a couple of years and they are being picked on.
They also stop people at tube stations but as usual the left are screaming racism about that.
The new immigration bill is designed to make life much harder for illegals.
Because the negative rhetoric they talk about is just the government highlighting bogus students rather than burying its head in the sand like Labour did. Plus tightening up the system, which is also seen as sending a hostile message.
The education lobby say they support preventing bogus students and when the government identity them and change the rules, they are told they are sending out a negative message.
Fining owners and detaining staff is simply not good enough.
Our internal law enforcement agencies should be actively tracking down everyone who has no legal right to be in the country. And arranging their departure from the United Kingdom, right here, right now.
Fine by me. I am legally entitled to live in the UK, so I have nothing to fear from such questioning by the police...
But for an illegal immigrant....
Indeed. Same goes for politicians and fraudulent expenses.