Was Tri-Valley used to run an immigration racket?

HYDERABAD: The fake Tri-Valley University helped spawn an immigration racket and many used it to get their spouses to the US for a prolonged stay, according to the report prepared by the Non-resident Indians (NRI) cell at the Secretariat submitted to the chief minister on Wednesday.

The report shows how many from AP who went to Tri-Valley had a spouse living in the US, either working or studying. It is difficult for spouses of non-citizen immigrants to get long-term visas from the US. So, several immigrants got their spouses admitted at Tri-Valley which helped them get an extended stay of up to eight years with student work permits (illegal ones issued by Tri-Valley), the report says.

While those working in the US got their spouses in through dependent H4 visa, those studying brought their spouses using the F2 visa. Once in, they secured admission in accredited universities and got F1 student visas. Later, they shifted to Tri-Valley, the lure being the opportunity to work from day one that the university offered despite not being authorised to do so.

Many Tri-Valley students used the same arrangement to fly their spouses to the US. "Many of the spouses now facing deportation and federal charges had taken admission in Tri-Valley within just three to four days of landing in the US with the help of agents in the US,'' a source said.

"Usually under F2 visas or dependent visas spouses are not allowed to work. But if the spouse takes admission in Tri-Valley and other such fake universities which offer Curricular Practical Training (CPT) from the very first month, making a living in the US would become easy,'' said Surya Ganesh Valmiki, CMD, Valmiki Group of Overseas Educational Consultants.

The details of this arrangement came out when relatives of students trapped in Tri-Valley rang up the helpline in the city. The NRI cell's report said that a number of people who had gone to the US as dependent/spouses had enrolled with the university.

Since the university offered online courses that did not require students to attend classes, several spouses had taken admission at the university to get CPT.