Immigration Undercover: The Student Visa Scandal Panorama

Almost a quarter of a million visas each year are granted

to foreign students and their families to come to the UK.

But tonight, Panorama uncovers

blatant frauds within Britain's immigration system.

From outright cheating in Government-approved exams,

where someone takes your English test for you...

..and multiple-choice exams, where they give you all the answers...

I am very surprised. Oh, God!

SHE LAUGHS

It's very nice marks, but it's totally fake.

..to a thriving market in bogus documents.

I have been talking to the UK Border Agency.

They need to look at this crime as an organised crime.

We reveal how our immigration system itself is wide open to abuse.

The Government has created a marketplace for fraud.

There's been a free-for-all for the agents,

there's been a free-for-all for people who deal in false documents.

And how some so-called students are staying on in Britain illegally.

What Panorama has uncovered is extremely important,

it's very shocking and I want to do something about it.

This is a story about systematic immigration fraud.

We're sent genuine overseas students undercover to reveal

flagrant abuses in the student visa system.

I gave him money for all things like banks, back reports, cash letters.

For everything, I gave him money.

Most of the students come here to work. College is just an excuse.

-So it's a way to get in the country on a student visa?

-Yes.

We want the best and the brightest students in the world

to come and choose our universities.

For the last year, Panorama's been filming undercover

in Britain's immigration system, following a network of agents

helping bogus students obtain visas through fraud.

The Government wants to attract high-flyers to Britain.

The Prime Minister says they've cracked down on fraud.

Then, of course,

there was a student tier which was so unselective

that it allowed people who didn't speak a word of English

to come and study at low level or even bogus colleges.

In other words, places that weren't really colleges of education at all.

Student visas are the biggest source of non-EU immigration into the UK.

More than 200,000 are issued abroad each year.

Another 100,000 people already in the UK

get their student visas extended by the Home Office.

Our investigation proves fraud is rife.

Here's how it works. To get a visa, the Government insists

foreign students must be proficient in English.

They've increased down-the-line interviews of applicants

to root out fraud.

All right, then, sir, have you understood all of my questions today?

But we reveal how fraudsters

are getting around the English language barrier.

Our story begins a year ago,

when we were tipped off about an immigration consultancy business

called Studentway Education in Southall, West London.

The Home Office rules are crystal-clear.

If you don't pass the English exam,

you don't qualify for a student visa.

We were told Studentway could help get people around the Government's

compulsory English language tests, even if they spoke no English.

We found three students, already in the UK legally, to go undercover.

One went to Studentway

posing as an existing student wanting to extend his visa.

Can this really be right?

They guarantee we can pass the compulsory English exam?

Time to send in our second undercover,

this time claiming to speak hardly any English.

She met Studentway director Varinder Bajarh,

who explained how they fool the exam board.

So, he said someone else will take the test for her,

but it comes at a price.

A guaranteed pass will cost £500.

Studentway sent our undercover to sit the exam

at Eden College International in East London,

approved as a secure exam centre.

Our undercover turned up for her exam, registered,

and was sent upstairs.

While the candidates head into the exam room,

someone appears at the entrance and padlocks shut the front gates.

Could this be to stall any raid by the authorities?

It's not a one-off.

We've seen this happen here five times when exams are taking place.

Inside, our researcher makes her way to a secure computer terminal

linked up to a Government-approved testing company.

She's approached by an invigilator, who logs her on.

OK.

The test is a TOEIC,

Teaching of English for International Communication,

accepted by the Government for visa applications.

With all the candidates in their places, new people enter the room.

Our undercover asks what's happening.

Remarkably, there's a fake sitter for every candidate.

And ours sounds like a local.

LONDON ACCENT:

While the new arrivals don their headsets, ready to start,

the genuine candidates stand aside.

The first test - describe in English what you see on screen.

The fake sitters start answering questions in perfect English,

questions set for the real candidates.

With the paid cheats hard at work, the visa applicants

are called to the front in turn, to have their photograph taken.

Proof they've sat the exam here.

Next, the fake sitters complete the candidates' written English tests.

Once they've finished,

invigilators submit the papers electronically to the exam board.

It's a busy operation. Our fake sitter heads off

to a different class, to help another candidate.

We never discovered her full name and were unable to trace her.

With the first half of the exam complete,

our undercover's well on her way to securing

the English qualification she needs for her visa.

We asked a former Border Agency immigration officer

about our investigation.

Jay Sudra knows the student visa system first-hand.

The Government have placed

such a big emphasis on sort of students speaking proper English,

and speaking it at an acceptable level,

and, where you're having fraud issues, it really sort of damages

the credibility of this entire visa process.

Eden College International, where our undercover sat the exam,

is a trusted sponsor of overseas students,

fully approved by the Home Office.

A week later, our undercover is back at the college.

This time, there are no fake sitters as the exam papers are handed out.

Our undercover's actually going to have to sit the exam herself?

This second exam is multiple choice.

But this is multiple choice with a difference.

Unbelievably, the invigilator is simply reading out the answers.

All our undercover needed to know was that alpha meant tick box A,

beta meant box B, and so on.

Having been given the answers to all 200 questions,

it took the two dozen or so candidates just seven minutes

to complete the two-hour exam.

A few days later, this arrives -

a brand-new, crisp, original exam certificate from TOEIC.

Remember, that's a body approved by the UK Border Agency. Guess what?

She did brilliantly well in her exam.

Our undercover scored highly in all three tests,

getting 100% in her spoken English.

No surprise, really, given her fake sitter was doing all the talking.

I caught up with our undercover researcher

after she'd got the results.

I don't think it's a proper exam. I think it's a fake exam.

Because he's shouting an answer and we are just writing down quickly.

Your score was probably in the top 20% of students in this country.

Yes, I'm very surprised. Oh, God! SHE LAUGHS

It's very nice marks, but it's totally fake.

We showed the TOEIC exam certificate to Toaha Qureshi

who runs a respected private college in South London.

This is a very high score

and TOEIC is obviously approved by UK Border Agency.

If a student comes to us with this certificate, we will accept that.

'We asked the Home Secretary to look at our footage.

'We showed her both fake exams.'

Well, I mean, that's incredible.

I knew there was abuse in the system, but well done

for actually uncovering the further abuse that is taking place.

What you've shown here is people being able to effectively

go into a situation where that has been faked for them.

That's a matter of grave concern.

'..and, for more than 10,000 organisations worldwide,

'there's one trusted choice - the TOEIC Program.'

The exam sat by our undercover was part of this programme.

TOEIC is run by ETS,

one of the biggest English language testing companies in the world.

They employ thousands globally and assess 50 million tests a year.

The company told us...

Eden College International strongly deny any prior knowledge of

or complicity in the fraud, but they did admit that,

earlier last year, they investigated allegations

against three freelance TOEIC exam invigilators.

They say their findings were not conclusive,

but their contracts were not renewed, and they said

they took swift action to improve invigilation and monitoring.

They told us locking the gates on exam days

was standard procedure to minimise disruption.

Of course, you need more than just an English test

to get a student visa. In fact, you need three crucial documents.

You need an educational back record to prove you're a bona fide student,

you need a bank statement

to show that you've got the funds to study and live in the UK,

and you need written confirmation from a Home Office-approved college.

Surely you can't fiddle all three?

Back at Studentway, our undercover was told by an agent

that you could simply buy fake academic qualifications

known as back records.

Another undercover also buys a fake back record.

And, within days, it's ready to collect.

And who hands it over in a sealed envelope?

The former chairman of Studentway, Hement Kumar.

Hement Kumar told us he would never take part in any fraud

as he is a Home Office-approved immigration advisor.

With an English certificate and an academic record in the bag,

we're halfway to extending a UK study visa.

Immigration rules mean that non-EU students at private colleges

are not allowed to take paid work over here.

That's why they have to show bank statements

proving they have enough money to support themselves.

But what if they don't?

At Studentway, one of the agents, Vinod, has a solution.

For a fee, of course.

This seems like straightforward identity theft.

Vinod, the agent, is proposing to steal the bank details

of someone with the same name as our undercover

and pass them off as hers.

The previous day, he'd boasted about how many banks he could target.

Sure enough, two weeks later, Vinod delivers on his promise,

and produces a statement that makes our fake student

appear very rich indeed, to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds.

Even Studentway's director, Varinder Bajarh, is impressed.

The statement we bought was from Axis Bank,

one of the biggest private banks in India.

It's approved by the Home Office for visa applications.

And it certainly made our student

look like a very good prospect indeed.

We traced the real owner of this account to Mumbai, India.

She agreed to be filmed, but didn't want to be named.

All the information is correct.

The transactions, the customer ID, my address, everything is accurate.

'It's absolutely scary to think that,

'just because I have the same name as someone

'who's seeking a UK student visa, I've been subjected to this.

'It's not fair.'

It's a breach of confidence. It's a breach of privacy.

It's a breach of trust, and it's a breach of ethics.

This is sophisticated fraud, to get around all the security measures

at the third biggest private bank in India.

Axis Bank told us...

We understand that Axis Bank has suspended several staff

suspected of corruption, following our tip-off.

But how easy is it

for Border Agency officials to detect this type of fraud?

With that sort of scam,

it would be very, very difficult to try and detect.

Do you spend an hour or two trying to sort out one bank statement

or do have you to deal with 50, 60 visa cases during your working day?

It's not just foreign bank statements.

At another immigration agency,

Bright Consultant Services, in East London, we were offered

a forged British bank statement by the boss, Fasih Mohammed.

The fake Barclays statement showing more than £9,000

was part of an all-in package deal of dodgy documents

to secure a visa extension of at least a year.

The cost - £2,800.

Using our undercover's real bank statement, the agents promised

a forged one which would pass any Home Office scrutiny.

And here it is. It looks as though our undercover researcher

has suddenly come into the money.

This is her real bank statement, showing a balance of less than £100.

The forged statement shows a balance of almost £10,000.

'For those who run respected private colleges,

'these types of frauds are frustratingly common.'

Well, this seems to be Barclays' genuine bank statement.

If we told you we paid £500 for that, and it's completely fake?

It wouldn't surprise me,

because, in the UK, there are a lot of activities of this nature

and I have been talking to the UK Border Agency

that they need to look at this crime as an organised crime.

We now have to look at the sort of documents people are providing

and look at the kind of scams being undertaken behind that.

It's a constant battle,

but it's a battle I'm willing to continue to take on.

We've found a thriving market in bogus documents.

We've bought English exams,

fake academic records and fraudulent bank statements,

all through a network of immigration agents.

But even all of this won't be enough to get us a visa extension

if the agents can't get us a place at a Home Office-approved college.

The Government updates its list of approved colleges every day.

There are currently around 1,700 on this list.

More than 1,300 are what's known as "highly-trusted"

because they've passed regular Home Office inspections.

Back at Bright Consultant Services in East Ham,

our second undercover is told that getting a place

at a highly-trusted college will be no problem.

So our undercover made it clear he's here to work illegally.

For a fee, she's offering to guarantee a place

at any one of 80 Home Office-approved colleges.

All colleges charge course fees.

Back at Studentway, our other undercover was offered a place

at a highly-trusted college with close links to Studentway.

The college the agent's recommended, Leyton College, is in East London.

Studentway's former chairman, Hement Kumar,

was also company secretary here.

Hi, how are you?

Studentway sends our undercover,

armed with all the dodgy documents they've supplied, to Leyton College.

Her papers are accepted as genuine by the college co-ordinator

who issues what's known as a CAS document,

a confirmation of acceptance for study

generated by the Home Office's central database.

That's everything our undercover needs to extend her study visa

and remain in Britain for another year.

And here it is - the final piece of the jigsaw.

This confirmation of a college place

has been accepted by the Home Office.

We now have all the documents we need to apply for a student visa.

We bought the entire package from Studentway for £2,800.

The beauty of this fraud is that the documents all seem genuine,

making it almost impossible

for colleges or immigration officials to spot.

Leyton College denies any wrongdoing.

And the key players at Studentway Education all deny fraud.

Hement Kumar resigned as a director of Studentway last April,

but continues working there as a immigration advisor.

He also resigned from Leyton College last month,

the day after we presented our allegations.

Studentway director, Varinder Bajarh, told us the agency

is a respected organisation, adding, "We're not a visa machine."

He distanced himself from the other men caught on camera,

Vinod Kumar and Harinder Layhal, saying they were never employees,

but may have used the office without his knowledge.

But here's Varinder with Vinod in our footage

and this Studentway staff photo shows him next to Harinder.

It's clear from our investigation

that the student visa system is riddled with fraud.

The Government has created a marketplace for fraud.

It's created such a weak system that fraudsters have thought,

"Hold on, this is a weak system, let's abuse it."

And the Government haven't done anything to tackle it.

It's been an open free-for-all.

It's been a free-for-all for the agents,

it's been a free-for-all for the people who deal in false documents.

And how will this course help you with your future plans?

The Government says it's determined to stop the free-for-all.

But with more than half a million visas to process each year,

rooting out all fraud is a hard task.

We've been able to buy fake bank documents,

fraudulently-acquired English exams, we've got bogus academic records.

I mean, the whole system appears chaotic.

We've done a lot over the last 3½ years. We've rooted out abuse.

The numbers of student visas has gone down

and the amount of abuse has gone down,

but it's clear that people are finding other ways around the system.

Remember our bogus English exam in East London?

A perfect illustration of the way the system

is currently being subverted, and it was by no means a one-off.

One of our undercover students was sent to

the Universal Training Centre in Watford.

While fake sitters took the English exam,

the real candidates relaxed in the next-door classroom.

Some even snoozed.

An invigilator explains to the candidates,

including our undercover, what they have to do in the event of a raid.

'There were about 14 to 15 different students from different countries

'and they could hardly speak a word of English.

'We were approached by one of the examiners in that room'

and then he came and he goes, "If in case there's a raid,

"you will have to go back and sit back on your seats."

A few days later, our undercover

collects his English exam certificate from Fasih Mohammed,

director of Bright Consultant Services.

We've attempted to contact Bright Consultant Services

on several occasions.

They've failed to respond to our letters

and their offices appear to be abandoned.

Universal Training Centre in Watford told us...

Critics blame successive governments

for making things too easy for the fraudsters.

You put a bone in front of a dog, they're bound to pick it up

and this is what's happened. There were a lot of dogs out there

and the Government just kept on throwing them bones.

I think the Government has done a huge amount to root out fraud.

We have significantly changed the student visa system.

As a result,

700 colleges are no longer able to bring non-EU students in.

But there is clearly more that we need to do.

-We have to be ever-vigilant in this area.

-But it's still going on.

But in the immigration world,

you can never say you've done everything, you always have to look,

because people will look for the new way round the system.

As a result of our investigation,

the Home Office has suspended all English exams run by ETS.

They've also suspended the two colleges

we filmed secretly, pending investigation.

What's clear is the UK student visa system remains an easy target.