Fake US university exposes student-visa scams

Global Business

U.S. authorities set up a fake university as part of an operation to crackdown on illegal student visas.

Some brokers have allegedly helped some foreign nationals obtain visas in exchange for money without fulfilling legal requirements.

CCTV America’s Karina Huber has more.

Twenty-one illicit brokers who allegedly assisted more than 1000 foreign nationals get student visas have been arrested.

Some foreign students in the United States extend their stay by applying for a visa that allows them to work while continuing to study.

The fake academy, The University of Northern New Jersey, set in a business park outside New York City had no classrooms, no teachers and no students.

It appeared certified on the website of the Department of Homeland Security and it sent out messages to students via social media.

Those who applied to the school, mainly Chinese and Indian students, were never asked to do any schoolwork.

The goal of this fake operation was to crackdown on brokers and recruiters, but foreign nationals signed up for the phony school.

The students have been ordered to appear at an immigration court where they face possible deportation and a ban on ever returning to the United States.

The U.S. government says the students were willing participants in the scheme.