In a case which has been compared to the Post Office Horizon scandal, thousands of international students have spent years protesting accusations of cheating, which led to the cancellation of visas and termination of study. Over 3600 have won appeals against the Home Office.
A 2014 BBC Panorama investigation uncovered widespread cheating in English-language test centres, prompting Home Secretary Theresa May to ask the test provider, Educational Testing Service (ETS) to investigate.
ETS found 97% of tests taken between 2011 and 2014 to be suspicious. The visas of around 58% of test takers were immediately cancelled, and a further 39% were asked to resit. Ultimately, only 2222 tests emerged as valid, according to the Home Office. As a result, 2500 students were deported after immigration enforcement raids on student accommodations, and 7200 left the country after warnings of arrest and deportation.
The financial and psychological toll of the accusations has been high. There was no immediate way to appeal the decision, and the process of attempting to get immigration courts to renew the visa cancellations has taken years and significant expense. Many students have faced depression, suicidal thoughts, poverty and even homelessness during their long fight to clear their names.
Advocates for the accused students have highlighted the implausibility that 97% of students were cheating. The Panorama investigation did provide legitimate evidence of cheating in two of around 90 test centres. However, new evidence from an expert witness has indicated the possibility of staff in test centres replacing all student tests with those taken by substitutes, invalidating all tests, including those of students who were unaware of the fraud. In an interview with The Guardian, Labour MP Stephen Timms links the mismanagement of the tests, and scepticism towards students claiming their innocence, to the aim of Theresa May’s Home Office to drastically reduce net migration.
In 2019, Home Secretary Sajid Javid proposed the development of a possible solution that would provide internal reviews for those who believed their visas had been wrongly cancelled. However, in July 2019, the proposal did not achieve Downing Street approval after the government reshuffle following Theresa May’s replacement by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.