Language schools practice art of Chinese whispers

By Michael O’Farrell

It’s not very surprising given the ease with which a front English school can be set up, the lack of any compulsory licensing system and the huge amounts of money to be made.

In one case a year ago, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation seized almost €400,000 during a raid of one Dublin school.

Non-EU students who register with a private English school are allowed to remain in Ireland for the duration of their study during which they are also permitted to work a maximum of 20 hours a week.

But the system is being widely abused to facilitate visa scams where people gain permission to enter the country using false school documentation supplied by fraudulent outfits posing as legitimate schools.

Further false documents and certificates supplied by the schools then permit the holders to renew their residence permits, effectively circumventing immigration controls all for a fee of up to €1,500 per person.

Gardaí and organisations representing legitimate colleges say the whole problem could be solved in one fell swoop if private English colleges were regulated or licensed.

But there are no current plans to regulate the sector according to the Department of Education.

In the absence of adequate controls, fraudsters have even managed to penetrate deep into the Department of Justice.

Apart from last month’s arrest of a GNIB staff member, an official in the Department of Justice itself was last year arrested in relation to alleged irregularities in the issuing of residence permits.

According to Ireland’s top immigration garda, Det Chief Supt Martin Donnellan, 15 schools are now under active investigation by the GNIB.

Just one of up to 10 schools closed down last year had 250 students on its books. The school’s director, a Chinese woman, disappeared. Another school had 2,000 students registered but only two classrooms.

GNIB detective inspector, Pat Clavin said: “There is a problem within the English language market. It’s what you would describe as pseudo-legal immigration. On the face of it they are legal but they have used dubious means to that end.”

Det Insp Clavin said GNIB officers had already this year identified a number of colleges that exist only in name.

“They are springing up one after the other and in almost all cases where there are problems there is involvement by Chinese nationals somewhere in the running of those colleges,” he said.

Five years ago just a few hundred Chinese students came to study here. That figure has now risen to an estimated 30,000.

Det Chief Supt Donnellan said some schools had no teachers or facilities whatsoever and consisted entirely of a computer and a colour printer in order to print false letters of attendance.

The issue has not gone unnoticed by legislators. “Unfortunately, the experience to date has been that there is evidence of widespread abuse in the submission of misleading documentation in support of visa applications,” said Justice Minister, Michael Mcdowell in response to a Dáil question on the matter last year.

However, much work remains before the situation will improve. The most obvious solution would appear to be the compulsory regulation and licensing of all private English language schools.

However, according to the Department of Education, there are no current plans in that regard.

In an effort to alleviate the situation the Department of Justice last year sent six new immigration officers to the Irish embassy in Beijing to cut down on bogus visa applications.

That has largely put a stop to Chinese agents encouraging students with minimal English to apply for visas at the Irish embassy because few interviews were carried out.

In contrast the British embassy has maintained a policy of interviewing all applicants.

But a spokesperson for Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, said there were no immediate plans to change the manner in which student visas are dealt with although the situation was being kept under review.

Meanwhile, the legitimate English school sector is also anxious to see any abuses of the system cleared up since any illegality in the industry also reflects negatively on licensed schools.

The Advisory Council for English Language Schools (ACELS) operates a licensing scheme for schools in Ireland. However, ACELS membership is not mandatory.

Chief executive Jim Ferguson, said: “It seems people are putting up a sign on a building, calling it a school and taking money off people, ” he said.

“If there were mandatory licensing then we could control the system and that is certainly something the industry would look favourably on,” Mr Ferguson said.

The council inspects and recognises 105 schools, which it believes account for 80% of roughly 200,000 language students annually.

By those figures, up to 40,000 students attend non-regulated schools about which neither the Department of Education nor the Department of Justice have any records.