Fake citizenship ceremony

[bigbadwolf]

This is an interesting story:

The Chinese nationals watched in awe as the fake Home Secretary gave a greeting speech before they all sang God Save the Queen, a court heard.

...

At the end of the event, the participants, who genuinely believed they were being made British citizens, were allegedly handed false passports, visas, and other documents.

It was only when they tried to use their crudely forged passports that they realised they were fakes.

As I read through the story I couldn't help but mark the resemblance between this ceremony and some utterly fourth-rate MFE programs I know which are doing exactly the same thing with foreign students (and with the same solemnity).

Though mind, I now have to wonder how authentic my own citizenship ceremony was ...

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Typical immigrants got preyed on by their fellow countrymen story. I don't think it's fair to compare this scam with the MFE programs. At least the MFE programs have legal authority to grant you a degree and they don't graduate you if you don't come to class.
Now, over-promise and under-deliver are the only similarity you can draw.

 

[zhouxing]

Read the original story on telegraph. It really makes a day for me. Indeed, a good candidate for a Hollywood movie!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Can't blame people who don't understand the language, the law of the land, the custom. They are the easiest preys. I would even believe if the same scam happened to educated people as well.

Imagine you are a student and desperate for H1B visa or GC and some smooth talking immigration lawyers promise you are the golden ticket because he knows people, chances are you would jump on it.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Imagine you are a student and desperate for H1B visa or GC and some smooth talking immigration lawyers promise you are the golden ticket because he knows people, chances are you would jump on it.

The situation is complicated by the fact that these lawyers sometimes do have connections, particularly at the leading immigration law firms, where some of the people have previously been working for the INS/DHS. These connections can often make the crucial difference between getting or not getting a GC, or at least accelerating the process. Getting a GC is ofttimes like walking through a field with booby-traps and land mines, and every little edge helps.

 

[Alexei]

or harms - Raj Rajaratnam and "The edge"

 

[zhouxing]

Getting a GC is ofttimes like walking through a field with booby-traps and land mines, and every little edge helps.

The process to get a US GC is a good candidate for writing a time variant stochastic equation. lol ;-)