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Panorama S2014E05 Immigration Undercover.The.Student.Visa.Scandal
Transcript
00:00Almost a quarter of a million visas each year are granted to foreign students and their
00:07families to come to the UK. But tonight, Panorama uncovers blatant frauds within Britain's immigration
00:14system. From outright cheating in government approved exams, where someone takes your English
00:20test for you. And multiple choice exams where they give you all the answers.
00:3140 alpha, 41 delta. I'm very surprised. Oh God. It's very nice marks but it's totally
00:41fake. To a thriving market in bogus documents. I have been talking to the UK border agency
00:49that they need to look at this crime as an organised crime. We reveal how our immigration
00:55system itself is wide open to abuse. The government has created a marketplace for fraud. It's
01:01been a free fall for the agents, it's been a free fall for the people who deal with false
01:04documents. And how some so-called students are staying on in Britain illegally. What
01:12Panorama has uncovered is extremely important, it's very shocking and I want to do something
01:16about it.
01:34This is a story about systematic immigration fraud. We've sent genuine overseas students
01:41undercover to reveal flagrant abuses in the student visa system. I gave him money for
01:49all things like bank, back records, cash letter, for everything I gave him money. Most of the
01:56students they come here to work. College is just an excuse. It's a way to get in the country
02:01on a student visa. Yes. We want the best and the brightest students in the world to come
02:07choose our universities. For the last year Panorama has been filming undercover in Britain's
02:14immigration system, following a network of agents helping bogus students obtain visas
02:20through fraud. The government wants to attract high flyers to Britain. The Prime Minister
02:25says they've cracked down on fraud. Then of course there was a student tier which was so
02:31unselective that it allowed people who didn't speak a word of English to come and study at
02:36low level or even bogus colleges. In other words places that weren't really colleges of education
02:41at all. Student visas are the biggest source of non-EU immigration into the UK.
02:49More than 200,000 are issued abroad each year.
02:53Another 100,000 people already in the UK get their student visas extended by the Home Office.
02:59Our investigation proves fraud is rife.
03:04Here's how it works. To get a visa the government insists foreign students must be proficient in
03:10English. They've increased down the line interviews of applicants to root out fraud.
03:17All right then, so have you understood all of my questions today?
03:21But we reveal how fraudsters are getting around the English language barrier.
03:29Our story begins a year ago when we were tipped off about an immigration consultancy business
03:35called Student Way Education in Southall, West London. The Home Office rules are crystal clear.
03:41If you don't pass the English exam you don't qualify for a student visa. We were told Student
03:47Way could help get people around the government's compulsory English language tests even if they
03:54spoke no English. We found three students, already in the UK legally, to go undercover.
04:02One went to Student Way posing as an existing student wanting to extend his visa.
04:24Can this really be right? They guarantee we can pass the compulsory English exam?
04:33Time to send in our second undercover, this time claiming to speak hardly any English.
04:39She met Student Way director Varinder Bhaja, who explained how they fool the exam board.
04:54So he says someone else will take the test for her, but it comes at a price.
05:02A guaranteed pass will cost 500 pounds.
05:12Student Way sent our undercover to sit the exam at Eden College International in East London,
05:18approved as a secure exam centre.
05:24Our undercover turned up for her exam, registered and was sent upstairs.
05:33While the candidates head into the exam room, someone appears at the entrance and padlocks
05:38shut the front gates. Could this be to stall any raid by the authorities?
05:44It's not a one-off. We've seen this happen here five times when exams are taking place.
05:49Inside, our researcher makes her way to a secure computer terminal,
05:53linked up to a government-approved testing company.
05:56She's approached by an invigilator, who logs her on.
06:06The test is a TOEIC, Teaching of English for International Communication,
06:11accepted by the government for visa applications.
06:14With all the candidates in their places, new people enter the room.
06:18Our undercover asks what's happening.
06:30Remarkably, there's a fake sitter for every candidate.
06:34And ours sounds like a local.
06:44What time, you know?
06:45It starts, it's going to finish about 3.30.
06:49What time? 3.30 finish?
06:51Yes.
06:52OK.
06:53OK?
06:53Yeah, no problem.
06:54Should I stand here?
06:56Please.
06:57All right, guys, keep it quiet for 20 seconds.
07:00While the new arrivals don their headsets ready to start, the genuine candidates stand aside.
07:07The first test, describe in English what you see on screen.
07:12There is a machine giving a presentation to four other people in English.
07:20The fake sitters start answering questions in perfect English,
07:25questions set for the real candidates.
07:38With the paid cheats hard at work,
07:41the visa applicants are called to the front in turn to have their photograph taken.
07:46Proof they've sat the exam here.
07:50Next, the fake sitters complete the candidates' written English tests.
07:56Once they've finished,
07:57invigilators submit the papers electronically to the exam board.
08:02It's a busy operation.
08:04Our fake sitter heads off to a different class to help another candidate.
08:11Thank you so much.
08:15We never discovered her full name and were unable to trace her.
08:20OK, thank you so much.
08:25With the first half of the exam complete,
08:27our undercover's well on her way to securing the English qualification she needs for her visa.
08:33We asked a former Border Agency immigration officer about our investigation.
08:39Jay Sudra knows the student visa system first-hand.
08:44The government have placed such a big emphasis on students speaking proper English
08:49and speaking at an acceptable level.
08:53The way you're having fraud issues,
08:55it really damages the credibility of this entire system.
09:00It really sort of damages the credibility of this entire visa process.
09:07Eden College International, where our undercover sat her exam,
09:11is a trusted sponsor of overseas students, fully approved by the Home Office.
09:18A week later, our undercover is back at the college.
09:24This time, there are no fake sitters as the exam papers are handed out.
09:29Our undercover's actually going to have to sit the exam herself.
09:38This second exam is multiple choice, but this is multiple choice with a difference.
09:44I'll be going on quickly, I won't be stopping.
09:56Unbelievably, the invigilator is simply reading out the answers.
10:01All our undercover needed to know was that alpha meant take box A,
10:05beta meant box B and so on.
10:13Is everyone following me?
10:24Having been given the answers to all 200 questions,
10:29it took the two dozen or so candidates just seven minutes to complete the two-hour exam.
10:36A few days later, this arrives.
10:38A brand new, crisp, original exam certificate from TOEIC.
10:42Remember, that's a body approved by the UK Border Agency.
10:46Guess what?
10:47She did brilliantly well in her exam.
10:49Our undercover scored highly in all three tests,
10:53getting 100% in her spoken English.
10:56No surprise really, given her fake sitter was doing all the talking.
11:01I caught up with our undercover researcher after she got the results.
11:07I don't think so it's a proper exam.
11:09I think so it's a fake exam because he's shouting an answer
11:13and we are just write it down quickly.
11:16I mean, your score was probably in the top 20% of students in this country.
11:20Yes, I'm very surprised.
11:22Oh God.
11:25It's very nice marks, but it's totally fake.
11:29We showed the TOEIC exam certificate to Taha Qureshi,
11:33who runs a respected private college in South London.
11:37This is a very high score and TOEIC is obviously approved by UK Border Agency.
11:43If a student comes to us with this certificate, we will accept that.
11:49We asked the Home Secretary to look at our footage.
11:52We showed her both fake exams.
11:55Well, I mean, that's incredible.
11:56I mean, I know that there's abuse in the system,
11:58but I mean, well done for actually uncovering the further abuse that is taking place.
12:03I mean, what you've shown here is people being able to effectively
12:07go into a situation where that has been faked for them,
12:09and that's a matter of grave concern.
12:11And for more than 10,000 organisations worldwide,
12:15there's one trusted choice, the TOEIC programme.
12:18The exam sat by our undercover was part of this programme.
12:22TOEIC is run by ETS, one of the biggest English language testing companies in the world.
12:27They employ thousands globally and assess 50 million tests a year.
12:32The company told us...
12:44Eden College International strongly deny any prior knowledge of or complicity in the frauds,
12:50but they did admit that early last year,
12:52they investigated allegations against three freelance TOEIC exam invigilators.
12:58They say their findings were not conclusive, but their contracts were not renewed,
13:02and they said they took swift action to improve invigilation and monitoring.
13:09They told us locking the gates on exam days was standard procedure to minimise disruption.
13:18Of course, you need more than just an English test to get a student visa.
13:21In fact, you need three crucial documents.
13:24You need an educational back record to prove you're a bona fide student,
13:28you need a bank statement to show that you've got the funds to study and live in the UK,
13:33and you need written confirmation from a Home Office-approved college.
13:38Surely, you can't fiddle all three.
13:43Back at Student Way, our undercover was told by an agent
13:47that you could simply buy fake academic qualifications, known as back records.
13:54I'll get them from a running college. Don't worry, I'll get them for you.
14:05Another undercover also buys a fake back record, and within days, it's ready to collect.
14:11And who hands it over in a sealed envelope?
14:14The former chairman of Student Way, Hemant Kumar.
14:18Hemant Kumar told us he would never take part in any fraud,
14:21as he's a Home Office-approved immigration adviser.
14:27With an English certificate and an academic record in the bag,
14:32we're halfway to extending a UK study visa.
14:36Immigration rules mean that non-EU students at private colleges
14:40are not allowed to take paid work over here.
14:43That's why they have to show bank statements
14:45proving they have enough money to support themselves.
14:48But what if they don't?
14:51At Student Way, one of the agents, Vinod, has a solution — for a fee, of course.
15:14This seems like straightforward identity theft.
15:18Vinod, the agent, is proposing to steal the bank details of someone
15:22with the same name as our undercover and pass them off as hers.
15:26The previous day, he'd boasted about how many banks he could target.
15:49Sure enough, two weeks later, Vinod delivers on his promise
15:53and produces a statement that makes our fake student appear very rich indeed,
15:59to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds.
16:05Even Student Way's director, Varinder Bajra, is impressed.
16:18The statement we bought was from Axis Bank, one of the biggest private banks in India.
16:23It's approved by the Home Office for visa applications,
16:26and it's certainly made our student look like a very good prospect indeed.
16:37We traced the real owner of this account to Mumbai, India.
16:41She agreed to be filmed, but didn't want to be named.
16:45All the information is correct.
16:47The transactions, the customer ID, my address — everything is accurate.
16:53It's absolutely scary to think that just because I have the same name
16:56as someone who's seeking a UK student visa, I've been subjected to this.
17:01It's not fair.
17:03It's a breach of confidence, it's a breach of privacy,
17:05it's a breach of trust, and it's a breach of ethics.
17:10This is sophisticated fraud to get around all the security measures
17:14at the third biggest private bank in India.
17:17Axis Bank told us,
17:19we've completed preliminary investigations and appropriate action has been taken.
17:25We understand that Axis Bank has suspended several staff suspected of corruption
17:31following our tip-off.
17:33But how easy is it for border agency officials to detect this type of fraud?
17:38With that sort of scam, it would be very, very difficult to try and detect.
17:45Do you spend an hour or two trying to sort out one bank statement,
17:49or do you have to deal with 50, 60 visa cases during your working day?
17:57It's not just foreign bank statements.
17:59At another immigration agency, Bright Consultant Services in East London,
18:04we were offered a forged British bank statement by the boss, Fazi Muhammad.
18:10And which one is this?
18:11Barclays.
18:13Okay, do one thing. Give me your Barclays statement.
18:16Yes.
18:17Give me a partial payment from it.
18:19How much can you give? As much as you like.
18:23Okay? We'll start the work.
18:25Do one thing, whether you know or not, let's do a 9,000-pound statement.
18:29Yes.
18:30The fake Barclays statement showing more than 9,000 pounds
18:35was part of an all-in package deal of dodgy documents
18:39to secure a visa extension of at least a year.
18:42The cost? 2,800 pounds.
18:46Using our undercover's real bank statement,
18:49the agents promised a forged one which would pass any home office scrutiny.
18:57And here it is.
18:58It looks as though our undercover researcher has suddenly come into the money.
19:03This is her real bank statement, showing a balance of less than 100 pounds.
19:07The forged statement shows a balance of almost 10,000 pounds.
19:14For those who run respected private colleges,
19:17these types of frauds are frustratingly common.
19:21Well, this seems to be Barclays' genuine bank statement.
19:25And if we told you we paid 500 pounds for that and it's completely fake?
19:30It wouldn't surprise me.
19:31Because in the UK, there are a lot of activities of this nature.
19:37And I have been talking to the UK Border Agency
19:40that they need to look at this crime as an organised crime.
19:47We now have to look at the sort of documents people are providing
19:50and look at the kind of scams being undertaken behind that.
19:53It's a constant battle, but it's a battle I'm willing to continue to take on.
20:01We've found a thriving market in bogus documents.
20:04We've bought English exams, fake academic records
20:08and fraudulent bank statements, all through a network of immigration agents.
20:13But even all this won't be enough to get us a visa extension
20:17if the agents can't get us a place at a home office approved college.
20:23The government updates its list of approved colleges every day.
20:27There are currently around 1,700 on this list,
20:30more than 1,300 are what's known as highly trusted
20:34because they've passed regular home office inspections.
20:44Back at Bright Consultant Services in Eastham,
20:47our second undercover is told that getting a place
20:49at a highly trusted college will be no problem.
21:01So, our undercover made it clear he's here to work illegally.
21:26For a fee, she's offering to guarantee
21:29a place at any one of 80 home office approved colleges.
21:45All colleges charge course fees.
21:48Back at Student Way, our other undercover was offered a place
21:51at a highly trusted college with close links to Student Way.
21:58HE SPEAKS HINDI
22:00HE SPEAKS HINDI
22:03HE SPEAKS HINDI
22:25The college the agents recommended, Leighton College, is in East London.
22:30London. Student Waze former chairman Hemant Kumar was also company secretary here.
22:40Student Waze sends our undercover, armed with all the dodgy documents they've supplied,
22:45to Leighton College. Her papers are accepted as genuine by the college coordinator who
22:53issues what's known as a CAS document, a confirmation of acceptance for study, generated by the
23:00Home Office's central database. That's everything our undercover needs to extend her study visa
23:06and remain in Britain for another year. And here it is, the final piece of the jigsaw.
23:13This confirmation of a college place has been accepted by the Home Office. We now have all
23:19the documents we need to apply for a student visa.
23:23We bought the entire package from Student Waze for £2,800. The beauty of this fraud
23:30is that the documents all seem genuine, making it almost impossible for colleges or immigration
23:36officials to spot. Leighton College denies any wrongdoing. And the key players at Student
23:44Waze Education all deny fraud. Hemant Kumar resigned as a director of Student Waze last
23:51April, but continues working there as an immigration advisor. He also resigned from Leighton College
23:57last month, the day after we presented our allegations. Student Waze director Varinder
24:04Bhaja told us the agency is a respected organisation, adding, we're not a victim.
24:14He distanced himself from the other men caught on camera, Vinod Kumar and Harinder Lehal,
24:20saying they were never employees, but may have used the office without his knowledge.
24:26But here's Varinder with Vinod in our footage, and this Student Waze staff photo shows him
24:32next to Harinder. It's clear from our investigation that the student visa system is riddled with
24:41fraud. The government has created a marketplace for fraud. It's created such a weak system
24:46that fraudsters have thought, well, hold on, this is a weak system, let's abuse it. And
24:50the government haven't done anything to tackle it. It's been an open free-for-all. It's been
24:54a free-for-all for the agents, it's been a free-for-all for the people who deal with
24:57false documents. And how will this cause help you with your future plans? The government
25:03says it's determined to stop the free-for-all. But with more than half a million visas to
25:08process each year, routing out all fraud is a hard task. We've been able to buy fake
25:17bank documents, fraudulently acquired English exams, we've got bogus academic records.
25:23I mean, the whole system appears chaotic. We've done a lot over the last three and a
25:27half years. We've routed out abuse, the numbers of student visas has gone down, the amount
25:32of abuse has gone down, but it's clear that people are finding other ways around the system.
25:38Remember our bogus English exam in East London? A perfect illustration of the way the system
25:44is currently being subverted. And it was by no means a one-off. One of our undercover
25:51students was sent to the Universal Training Centre in Watford. While fake sitters took
25:57the English exam, the real candidates relaxed in a next-door classroom. Some even snoozed.
26:05An invigilator explains to the candidates, including our undercover, what they have to
26:11do in the event of a raid.
26:28There were about 14 to 15 different students from different countries, and they could hardly
26:33speak a word of English. We were approached by one of the examiners in that room, and
26:39then he came and he goes, if in case there's a raid, you'll have to go back and sit back
26:43on your seats.
26:46A few days later, our undercover collects his English exam certificate from Fazi Mohammed,
26:52director of Bright Consultant Services.
26:56We've attempted to contact Bright Consultant Services on several occasions. They've failed
27:01to respond to our letters, and their offices appear to be abandoned.
27:07Universal Training Centre in Watford told us,
27:11Critics blame successive governments for making things too easy for the fraudsters.
27:20You put a bone in front of a dog, they're bound to pick it up. And this is exactly what's
27:24happened. There were a lot of dogs out there. There was a lot of dogs.
27:27We've had a lot of dogs.
27:29We've had a lot of dogs.
27:31We've had a lot of dogs.
27:33We've had a lot of dogs.
27:35We've had a lot of dogs.
27:37You put a bone in front of a dog, they're bound to pick it up. And this is exactly what's
27:39happened. There were a lot of dogs out there, and the government just kept on throwing them
27:42bones.
27:43I think the government has done a huge amount to root out fraud. We have significantly changed
27:47the student visa system. As a result, 700 colleges are no longer able to bring non-EU
27:53students in, but there is clearly more that we need to do. We have to be ever vigilant
27:57in this area.
27:58It's still going on.
27:59But in the immigration world, you can never say you've done everything. You always have
28:04to look, because people will look for the new way round the system.
28:10As a result of our investigation, the Home Office has suspended all English exams run
28:15by ETS. They've also suspended the two colleges we filmed secretly, pending investigation.
28:25What's clear is the UK's student visa system remains an easy target.
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