250 colleges in student visa scandal

The full scale of the scandal of "bogus" colleges set up as part of an immigration racket was exposed today.

The Home Office announced that a quarter of all the private colleges, which operate rooms over shops and often have no teachers, have been set up illegally to offer overseas students visas to stay in Britain.

More than 250 of the 1,050 suspect colleges have been exposed as outright fakes - and a further 250 have been ordered to prove they are genuine.

Immigration Minister Des Browne admitted the institutions, mainly language schools, are often simply a front for criminals. Fake colleges have brought more than 1,000 people to London and earned the racket organisers millions.

They work by exploiting laws which allow foreigners studying in Britain to obtain 12-month visas. Enrolling on the fake courses lets overseas " students" obtain the paperwork they need to get their passports stamped. They must pay hundredsof pounds to the bogus college, but it is a cheaper and safer route than being smuggled in by organised gangs.

Four months ago police swooped on 12 addresses across London and Essex as part of the operation which targeted the fraud organisers. The Evening Standard has previously exposed similar rackets in the capital.