Thursday, January 27, 2011

US: \'Sham University\" shuts, 95% students are Indian

January 27, 2011

Washington: The US has expressed concern over any activity involving visa fraud after hundreds of Indian students encounter the possibility of being deported. They were enrolled at a California university that has been shut down on charges of \"visa fraud.\"

Those enrolled at Tri-Valley University - where 95% of the students are reported to be Indian, largely from Andhra Pradesh - have lost their student visa status.

\"Any activity involving visa fraud would obviously be of great concern to us. The investigation of that is done by law enforcement, obviously with our cooperation, since we are the ones who issue visas,\" State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference.

\"Since 9/11, one of the areas that we as a government have strengthened is the tracking, so that if you come here on a student visa, you have to check in and you have to go to school. That is a requirement of that programme,\" Crowley told PTI.

Meanwhile, reports from the San Francisco area said a number of students have been interrogated by federal authorities as part of their investigation against the Tri-Valley University, accused of efforts to defraud, misuse visa permits, and indulge in money laundering.

According to a federal complaint filed in a California court last week, the University helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.

The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as 95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the complaint said.

Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) found that while students were admitted to various residential and on-line courses, they illegally worked in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

ICE has dubbed the college a \"Sham University\" which charged students lakhs for getting them visas and student work permits.

Meanwhile, government sources have told NDTV that the Indian Consulate in San Francisco is trying to find out the facts. Sources have also confirmed that none of the students or US authorities have approached the consulate so far. However, a lawyers\' group approached the Consulate and India has asked for details.












News From: http://www.7StarNews.com

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