Visa scam: US smells a rat, but Indians don't buy it

Washington: The US has given assurance that it will protect the interests of hundreds of Indian students at the University of Northern Virginia (UNVA), which was raided by investigating and law enforcement agencies on suspected charges of an alleged visa fraud. This is the second university after the Tri-Valley University, which is believed to be facing the probe heat. A majority of the university’s students are believed to be from Andhra Pradesh, India. The similarity between the Tri-Valley case and this present one is hard to overlook. In a day-long exercise, which continued late in the evening, dozens of officials, from different federal agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), entered the Annandale campus of the university and took a number of boxes full of documents and computer hard drives from its administrative division. “Today, officials from ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) served UNVA with a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) UNVA’s authorisation to admit foreign students,” ICE spokeswoman Cori W Bassett in a statement. Based in Annandale, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, the university is believed to have 2,400 students, of which 90 percent are from India. The university declined to make any comment, nor did it formally communicate with its students and staff. A notice was posted on its entrance informing that the university is still open, but students have the choice to move to other varsities or look for other options if they wished to do so. Informed sources said UNVA was authorised to issue I-20 form to about 50 students, but had issued and enrolled a much larger number. However, based on the experience of the Tri-valley case, and given that India had strongly objected to the manner in which its students were treated, US authorities are believed to have informed their Indian counterparts that they would be handling the present investigation and follow up action somewhat differently. [caption id=“attachment_50366” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Informed sources said UNVA was authorised to issue I-20 form to about 50 students, but had issued and enrolled a much larger number. Image from Wikipedia Commons.”]  [/caption] Unlike Tri- Valley University, the focus of investigations here is not on students but on the schools itself. No arrest, detention or electronic monitoring would be done on students, officials said. Furthermore, the university would not be immediately shut down. The university has been given a month’s notice for explanation. The present students would have one of the three options: continue at the University while it functions, seek transfer to another university and seek voluntary return to India. In another major relief, visa status of the students would not be terminated, they would remain valid for their present duration, which would also provide time for seeking transfers while continuing with a valid visa status. In another notice, ICE has informed the UNVA students that they have two choices – continue to attend classes and maintain their active status, seek transfer to another SEVP-approved institution. “UNVA students must immediately depart the country if they are unable to continue to attend classes and maintain their active status in a manner required by the regulation or if they are unable or do not wish to seek transfer to another SEVP-certified institution,” it said. UNVA officials no longer have access to SEVIS and not be able to manage non-immigrant students records in SEVIC, the notice said. “UNVA non-immigrant students should contact SEVP, as they would their designated school official (DSO), to report any changes, so their SEVIS record and Form I-20 can be updated accordingly,” the notice said. US authorities investigating the case, have acknowledged lacuna in their current education and visa system. The major failure has been the early identification of universities that exceeded their mandate; post these cases the US is looking to rectify their current system. Zubair Masood, a teacher at the university, said that FBI and ICI officials suddenly appeared at the university early this morning. “They asked questions, they took photographs. They took 30 minutes and then they let us out of the building,” he said, adding that probably they are suspecting that there are students here who are not registered properly. Masood said that the university officials told them late in the night that the university is still open, and they still have their jobs. MBA student Maria Guzman, a foreign student from Bulgaria, said that the raid is shocking for the university students. “My classmates and me are concerned about what is going on. We are F1 students, for immigration students, if we do not maintain our status, attending classes, we can lose our visa and we have to return to our country,” Guzman said. None of the Indian students who had gathered outside the university, were willing to speak to the media, but from their facial expression, they appeared to be concerned, given that many of their countrymen early this year had a bitter experience at the Tri-Valley University, which was closed this year on alleged visa fraud. Guzman said that she is the only Bolivian student in the university, and some are Americans. “Most of them are from India,” she said adding that in her class of 25 students 80 percent are from India." Diana LaVore, who has taught at UNVA for the last 13 years, said she never suspected any wrong doing at the university. “This is very shocking,” she said, adding that she was teaching in the class this morning when ICE and FBI officials knocked at her classroom. PTI