Student-visa scam takes toll
18/06/2004 22:26  - (SA)  

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Visa applicants under scrutiny R10 000 for fake visa SA won't probe 'fake visas' No SA citizens jailed for scam Cops hit student visa racket

Lizel Steenkamp, Beeld

Johannesburg - South Africans stranded in Britain on false student visas are not all "innocent victims" of the scam uncovered in London this week.

Nick Sheppard of the British high commission in Pretoria, said on Friday that many of the 1 000-odd victims knew exactly what they were doing.

Some knew that the documents used to apply for the visas were not from a registered institution. The majority of these victims did it simply to stay on in Britain.

The London metro police have arrested at least 21 people since Wednesday in connection with the scam.

The syndicate has been providing false student documents to South Africans mainly for the past few years - at R10 000 a piece.

Sheppard said it was difficult to track down the victims because no address list existed.

Each applicant assessed on merit

"The only way to trace them is when they travel in and out of Britain or if they are asked for proof of identity by chance."

Those who want to study in London and who have been done in, must re-apply for a student visa, said Sheppard.

South Africans who applied for visas from the high commissioner would not necessarily be subject to stricter assessment in future, he said.

"We have always been strict and each applicant is assessed on merit."

A spokesperson for the British department of home affairs said in London on Friday that those with false student visas would have to get their affairs in order.

"They have two choices: they can either immediately apply for a real student visa, or start packing."

13 suspects released on bail

Emma Stroud, spokesperson for the London metro police, said on Friday three suspects were charged with money laundering and transgressing the immigration act.

Another 13 suspects - five women and eight men - were released on bail. Another three were released unconditionally.

Jeanne-Marie Versluis reports that scores of South African students at colleges in Tooting have contacted Breytenbachs law firm in London after Wednesday's crackdown.

A senior partner at the law firm, Hannes Breytenbach, said worried parents wanted to know what their children should do.

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