Documents for student visas for Britain available in 100 pounds in Pak: Report

June 21st, 2009 LONDON - Massive irregularities have been unearthed in Britain's immigration system with a shocking disclosure that more than one in every three successful visa applications from Pakistani citizens "lacked credibility". According to a secret internal report, which has been now leaked to The Sunday Times, travel permits were given to thousands of Pakistanis to visit Britain without even the most basic checks and investigations.

May 21st, 2009 LONDON - After the arrest of 11 Pakistan students for allegedly plotting terror attacks in Britain, it was revealed that those students had entered Britain on false student visas, but it seems that it was only a part of a larger conspiracy, as it has now been revealed that thousands of young Pakistan civilians had exploited a hole in Britain's immigration defences to enroll themselves as students at a network of fraud colleges. The Times has unearthed a major scam in which fraudsters have earned millions of dollars by luring students from Pakistan to get admission in sham colleges in Britain.

April 26th, 2009 LONDON - Principal of the Edwardes College in Peshawar Dr. David Gosling has accused the British High Commission officials in Pakistan of a dereliction of duty.

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has asked the British government not to deport its citizens who were rounded up on suspicion of links with terrorists, but were later released, as the UK Police could not produce evidence against them. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said students had to undergo a harsh time behind bars and now it is up to the UK Government to compensate the students.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - A lawyer for the three Pakistani men facing deportation after being arrested in anti-terror raids earlier this month says his clients will fight to stay on in Britain. Mohammed Ayub says the men are in Britain lawfully on student visas, are not extremists and have done nothing wrong.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - Students of Pakistani origin are being granted British visas on the basis of a telephone interview, even as investigation teams probe different aspects of a crackdown involving twelve alleged Pakistan 'student' terrorists. The Telegraph reports that British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has admitted that some visa applications are being decided over the telephone.

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - A student visa scam has surfaced in Britain. A bogus college is reported to have sold places on fake courses to hundreds of Pakistanis seeking entry to Britain.

April 12th, 2009 LONDON - Most of the Pakistanis recently arrested in Britain on suspicion of involvement in an Easter terrorist plot had not reported at any college despite coming to this country on student visas, a newspaper reported Sunday. 'Most of them hadn't been near a college, yet somehow they got visas,' the Sun quoted a senior police source as saying.

April 11th, 2009 LONDON - At least two of the men suspected of being members of an alleged al-Qaeda cell were allowed to stay in Britain despite breaching conditions of their student visas, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. One man was stopped by immigration officials at Manchester Airport last week as he arrived from Pakistan, but was allowed to enter the country despite his visa documents being "all over the place", according to one source.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan and Britain asked each other to 'do more' to counter terrorism after British police arrested a dozen men - most of them Pakistani students - for suspected links with a major terror plot. 'We are dealing with a very big terrorist plot - we've been following it for some time,' British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan has criticized Britain for its slack visa norms after it was disclosed that most of those who were nabbed during anti-terror raids in north-west of England were holding student visas. Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan said British authorities in were not doing enough to stop the illegal passage of people to the country.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari late on Thursday after the arrest of 10 Pakistani-born nationals on student visas and one UK-born British national on charges of terrorism, to warn him to do more to root out terrorist elements in Pakistan. This is the first time Pakistanis on student visas have been arrested on such serious charges.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - The 10 Pakistani nationals arrested in the United Kingdom for planning to carry out terror strikes in the country may have exploited the shortcomings in the visa regime as described by a British minister as "the major loophole in Britain's border controls." This is the first time Pakistanis on student visas have been arrested on such serious charges. Sources said that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.

March 31st, 2009 LONDON - The British government Tuesday introduced a new strict visa regime for students from outside Europe amid a 30 percent rise in the number of Indians studying in Britain. International students in Britain last year paid tuition fees worth a total of 2.5 billion pounds.

January 30th, 2009 LONDON - British pop star Robbie Williams has rewarded himself with a pay packet of 5.5 million pounds. Thesun.co.uk reports that Williams has paid himself for not doing anything the past year.