Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

(asked on 2nd July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of student visa applicants who illegally gained entry to the UK as a result of fraudulent language testing in the last 10 years; and how many of these applicants have now been removed from the UK.


Answered by
James Brokenshire Portrait
James Brokenshire
This question was answered on 14th July 2014

As I stated in my oral statement to Parliament on 24 June, analysis from the American
arm of Educational Testing Service (ETS) for a number of their UK test centres has identified
more than 29,000 invalid results and more than 19,000 questionable results.
The analyses from other ETS test centres in the UK are still to be received and it is,
therefore, likely that the true totals will be higher.

These people took tests in the UK and had therefore previously entered the UK.
As I stated, a significant proportion of students who have been
caught cheating came to this country through a student visa system created
before this Government reformed the English requirements in 2011.

Significant numbers of these people will have used these certificates in
support of applications to temporarily extend their stay in the UK for study,
work or other purposes. As I indicated, the House will be updated
periodically on numbers relating to this matter.

Reticulating Splines