Bogus wedding gang 'lynch pin' jailed

18 February 2010

A man described as the 'lynch pin' of an East London sham marriage ring has been jailed for six years, following a two-year investigation by our officers.

Ghanaian national Victor Kugbeadzor, aged 29, of Rushcroft Road in Brixton, is known to have organised at least six bogus weddings of British citizens to Ghanaian nationals, including his own.

He married 28-year-old Kelly Bellotti at Barking Registry Office in October 2007 in order to get permission to stay in the UK. In reality the marriage was a sham, and Bellotti had been paid £2000 to marry him. Bellotti was arrested at her home address in Ilford in November 2008. She was jailed in October 2009, along with three other British citizens who had also been involved in other marriages organised by Kugbeadzor.

Kugbeadzor went on the run for 20 months, but investigations led officers from our criminal and financial investigation (CFI) unit to Broadclyst in Devon, where he was found living under an assumed name. He was arrested on 26 November 2009.

On Thursday 11 February Kugbeadzor pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including conspiracy to breach immigration control, deception and Identity Cards Act offences at Croydon Crown Court. He was jailed for six years, and faces deportation at the end of his sentence.

Malcolm Bragg, assistant director of the UK Border Agency criminal and financial investigations directorate, said:

'This was a sophisticated and organised plot, and the sentence handed down in this case shows how seriously we and the courts take these kinds of attempts to circumvent the UK's immigration rules.

'My officers and I are determined to track down and stop this kind of abuse, and we hope today's sentences send out a message that anyone who tries to enter into or organise a sham marriage faces arrest, prosecution, and a long time in prison.'

The conviction of Victor Kugbeadzor means that nine people have now been jailed for their parts in the sham marriage ring, with sentences totalling seventeen and a half years.

Three Ghanaian beneficiaries of the scam have already been deported.

Our investigation into the ring, codenamed 'Operation Probole' has lasted for more than two years. It began after immigration officials raised concerns about the marriage of British citizen Lisa Curtis to Ghanaian Kwabena Boadu. They were both arrested, and documentation was found at her home in Dagenham, including a price list, linking her to numerous other suspect marriages.

Final phase of Tier 4 is launched

22 February 2010

We have today implemented the final phase of the points-based system's student tier. This has resulted in two major changes for Tier 4 sponsors.

Visa letters have become obsolete

From today, all potential Tier 4 students applying to us from inside or outside the UK must use a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) in their application. All applications that do not contain a CAS will fall for refusal.

You will need to provide all potential students with a CAS reference number and your sponsor licence number (SLN). You will also need to give them all the information they will need when making their application. This information is sometimes called a 'CAS statement'; it is up to sponsors to decide its format and how to send it to their potential students. A 'CAS statement' may contain:

• student name;
• student date of birth;
• course title;
• course start and end date;
• details of any financial sponsorship/deposits taken;
• documents that should be included as part of an application to prove qualifications;
• CAS number; and
• ATAS certificate (if appropriate).

This additional information will assist our caseworkers and entry clearance officers when making decisions on migrant applications under Tier 4.

If a prospective student has a visa letter issued before 22 February 2010, they can no longer use it to apply for a Tier 4 student visa. If you have issued a visa letter to a student who is intending to apply to us, you must replace the visa letter with a CAS. For out-of-country students, the date of application is the date when the application fee is paid - so a prospective student must be in possession of a CAS if they are paying their application fee today or later.

Mandatory reporting on students who have been assigned a CAS

Sponsors now must report via the sponsorship management system (SMS) on students who have used a CAS in an application to us. For further guidance, please see the Sponsor duties - Tier 4 page of our website.

Before you can issue CASs to migrants, you must have performed the transition exercise on the SMS. If you have not yet done so, you can find full details on theTransition exercise page of your website.

Today has also seen enhancements to the Tier 4 SMS:

• Users can now create a new CAS from the details of a previous CAS created in a batch.
• The main site study address will be mandatory for the assignment of a CAS.

All changes and updates to the SMS will be reflected in the SMS user guides and policy guidance, which are available on our website. We advise sponsors to visit the website and familiarise themselves with the new functionality.

You can find information about the SMS, and the updated SMS user guides, in theSMS guidance section of this website.

Revised Tier 4 migrant application forms are also available on the website for applications made from today.

What students should do when their college Tier 4 Licence is suspended

This post was written by Charles Kelly on February 13, 2010
Posted Under: News

What should an international student do if the college they have applied to has their Tier 4 Sponsors licence suspended or withdrawn by the UK Border Agency?
Immigration Matters receives a large number of enquiries from students who have obtained visas or are already studying at a college which was approved by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) but later had its licence suspended.
It is estimated that thousands of students are studying at colleges which previously appeared on the UKBA Tier 4 Sponsors Register, but were later suspended.
The realisation that your college name no longer appears on the list of approved sponsors can send a wave of panic throughout the campus. But do you need to change college immediately?
Many students bolt and hurriedly join another college, in many cases only to later discover that their new college also receives a suspension.
What are the immigration rules?
The UKBA publishes the following guidance on the ‘Studying in the UK’ section its website:
Tier 4 licence suspended

Licence suspended	What will happen
Before you apply to come	You can still apply for permission to come to the United Kingdom but we will hold your application until the suspension is resolved.
Before you travel to the United Kingdom	If you have a visa letter that you got before your approved education provider’s license was suspended, and have already been granted permission to enter the United Kingdom, but you have not yet travelled, we will try and contact you to tell you not to come until we have resolved the suspension.
If you do travel to the United Kingdom	If you do travel to the United Kingdom, you will be allowed to enter and start studying with your approved education provider.
If you are already in the United Kingdom studying	If you are already in the United Kingdom and studying with your approved education provider, we will not tell you if we suspend their licence. However, if the result of the suspension is that your approved education provider loses their licence, we will tell you and your permission to stay will be limited.
If you are extending your stay	You can still apply to extend your permission to stay if it runs out when your approved education provider’s licence is suspended, as long as you already have your visa letter. However, we will hold your application until the suspension is resolved.

 Tier 4 licence is withdrawn

Licence withdrawn	What will happen
Before you apply to come	If your approved education provider’s licence is withdrawn, your visa letter will become invalid and you will not be able to use it to support any application for leave to come to the United Kingdom. Any applications made using an invalid visa letter will be refused.
Before you travel to the United Kingdom	If you have been given permission to come but have not travelled yet, your permission to come is cancelled. If you travel to the United Kingdom, you will not be allowed to enter.
If you are already in the United Kingdom studying	We will limit your permission to stay:to 60 days if you were not involved in the reasons why your approved education provider had their licence withdrawn (we will not limit your permission to stay if you have less than six months left. You may want to apply for permission to stay with another approved education provider during this time);immediately if we think you were involved in the reasons why your sponsor’s licence was withdrawn.

For further information check the UKBA website or seek advice from a registered immigration adviser or immigration lawyer.

Disruption to the online tools and applications for the points-based system

17 February 2010

To facilitate the release of the new IT system for Tier 4 sponsors, the online tools and applications for the points-based system (the self-assessment tool, the sponsor management system and sponsor application) will be unavailable from 1730 on Friday 19 February 2010 to 0800 on Saturday 20 February 2010.

During this period sponsors will be unable to access the sponsorship management system for any Tiers of the points-based system.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2010/February/disruption-to-online-tools-apps

Tougher rules for foreign students

10 February 2010

Foreign students from outside Europe wanting to come to the UK to study will be required to meet stricter entry criteria, the Home Secretary announced today.

The new regulations will ensure that students studying below degree level have a limited ability to work in the UK, and that their dependants cannot work here at all.

It will be even harder for bogus students, whose only aim is to work in the UK, to come into the country.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson also confirmed that the government will implement plans to introduce a points test by 2011 for those who wish to earn British citizenship.

The new measures for students include:

• a good standard of English (equivalent of holding just below a GCSE in a foreign language) will be needed to come to the UK and study to improve English language competency further;
• a good standard of English (again equivalent of holding just below a GCSE in a foreign language) will need to be demonstrated in order to study any other course below degree level;
• restricting the lowest-level courses (A levels and equivalent) to only the most trusted institutions;
• halving the amount of time a student studying below first degree level or on a foundation degree course will be able to work, to just 10 hours during term time;
• a ban on bringing in dependants for anyone studying a course for less than six months; and
• a ban on dependants of anyone studying a course lower than foundation or undergraduate degree level from working - they will face removal from the UK if found doing so.

Alan Johnson said:

'The points-based system was introduced to provide a rigorous system to manage legitimate access to the UK to work and study, with the ability to respond to changing circumstances.

'We want foreign students to come here to study, not to work illegally, and today we have set out necessary steps which will maintain the robustness of the system we introduced last year. I make no apologies for that.'

In addition, the new measures will include:

• a ban on foreign students studying below degree level if the course includes a work placement - unless that course is being provided by a university, college or training provider which has the status of 'highly trusted sponsor';
• a requirement for students to demonstrate their English language ability by passing an approved secure test - this will apply to all students studying below (foundation) degree level, including those coming to study English language; and
• the introduction of tougher criteria for defining which course providers count as 'highly trusted sponsors' of foreign students. We expect that all publicly funded universities and colleges will count as highly trusted, and we will ensure that there is a rapid but rigorous system for ensuring that private training colleges can also gain that status as soon as possible.

UK universities and colleges offer an excellent education, and the government recognises the essential contribution that genuine international students bring - economically, academically and socially - to the country as a whole, as well as to the universities and colleges in which they study. However, these steps are part of the government's commitment to crack down on potential abuse of the system.

These changes are part of a radical overhaul of the student system which began last year. Since March 2009, the government has required all foreign students to be sponsored by a college licensed by the UK Border Agency, and to demonstrate that they can support themselves once they get here before being granted a visa. Also since March, any college or university wanting to bring in international students must be accredited and licensed. This has reduced the number of institutions able to bring students to the UK from over 4,000 to approximately 2,000.

Pat McFadden, the Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, said:

'Genuine international students are welcome in the UK. They make a significant contribution to the academic and cultural life of the universities and colleges where they study, and bring over £5.3bn to our economy each year. But where there is abuse it undermines the position of genuine students as much as anyone else.

'It is important that we protect the reputation and quality of our institutions by ensuring only legitimate students are able to benefit from the courses they offer. This is why we will work closely with the sector to implement the recommendations of this review.'

The new requirements for foreign students follow a review of Tier 4 of the points-based system, announced by the Prime Minister in November 2009. The review team were asked to look at whether the current Tier 4 arrangements strike the right balance between facilitating access of genuine students and preventing abuse by economic migrants.

The Home Secretary's written ministerial statement about the student changes can be downloaded from the right side of this page.

The decision to introduce a points test for citizenship follows the results of a public consultation on the proposals. The results, which were published today in the Consultations section of this website, show that three-quarters of the public polled during the consultation are in favour of the government's plans to introduce a points scheme for citizenship.

Alan Johnson added:

'We have already made fundamental changes to the immigration system to control migration in a way that is firm, and has a positive impact on our work force and economy.

'From 2011 we will put the mechanisms in place that will ensure that people who are allowed to become citizens have earned their right to stay here.

'We will do this using a points test, giving us the ability to take clear, enforceable decisions about who should be allowed to stay permanently, with the flexibility to raise or lower the threshold for citizenship, depending on the current interests of the country and economy.'

Under the new rules, anyone wishing to become a permanent resident will have to earn their right to citizenship. This will restrict the number of economic migrants granted citizenship - for example, by limiting citizenship to those who have the qualifications or skills that the economy needs, or who are living in parts of the country where there are specific skills shortages that they can fill. They will also have to demonstrate that they can speak good English for their application to be successful.

New responsibilities for education providers who sponsor migrants

25 January 2010

The procedure for sponsoring students under Tier 4 of the points-based system will change next month, when phase 4 of Tier 4 begins.

From 22 February 2010, visa letters will be obsolete. Tier 4 sponsors will need to use our sponsorship management system to issueconfirmations of acceptance for studies (CASs) to all potential students, whether they are applying from inside or outside the UK.

From the same date, we will refuse any student applications under Tier 4 that do not contain a CAS number. If you issue a visa letter before 22 February to a student who intends to apply to us on or after that date, you must also issue them with a CAS.

If a student has used a CAS in their application to us, their sponsor must use the sponsorship management system to report on that student in any of the circumstances listed on the Reporting page of this website.

For more information about Tier 4 sponsors' responsibilities, download the Tier 4 sponsor guidance from the right side of this page.

For more information about the implementation of Tier 4, download the Tier 4 implementation plan from the right side of this page.

Suspension of Tier 4 student applications in North India, Nepal and Bangladesh

The UK Border Agency has announced that, from 1 February 2010, it is not accepting any new applications under the Tier 4 student route of the points-based system at the following visa application centres:

• North India - New Delhi, Jalandhar and Chandigarh
• Bangladesh - Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong
• Nepal - Kathmandu

The head of the points-based system at the UK Border Agency, Jeremy Oppenheim, said:

'The points-based system gives us the flexibility to act to maintain the integrity of the visa system, while processing legitimate applications fairly, thoroughly and as quickly as possible.

'We continually check and monitor all student applications and education providers to ensure that they meet the required standards set by the points-based system. As a result of this routine monitoring and an increase in applications, we have temporarily stopped accepting new applications from North India, Nepal and Bangladesh while we carry out an investigation to ensure they are all genuine.

'We will take tough action against those who attempt to abuse the system.'