Danish authorities ignored foreigners' hoax

Copenhagen Post:

Immigration authorities admit to not taking action despite information that many foreign students lied about being able to support themselves in Denmark.

For more than two years, officials in the Immigration Service and Integration Ministry have known that many foreign students lied about their finances to get residency permits in Denmark.

Nevertheless, the officials took no action, daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten reported on Tuesday.

The Immigration Service issued residency permits to foreign students, who could present a bank receipt showing that they had DKK 50,000 on their accounts. Immigration officials knew that the money was withdrawn from the account as soon as the permit had been granted. In some cases, the money was transferred to another student, standing in line to apply for residency permit.

The government demands that students from countries outside the European Union prove that they can support themselves during their studies in Denmark.

In fact, however, students could borrow the money in one day, get a residency permit in the following day, and hand over the money again on the third day.

The information was revealed as a 41-year-old former employee with the Immigration Service was questioned in a Copenhagen court, where he is being tried on corruption charges of selling residency permits to Chinese immigrants.

'The leaders knew perfectly well that foreign students placed DKK 50,000 on their accounts and withdrew them immediately, but chose to turn the blind eye,' the suspect said. 'It was common knowledge that the same money circulated from account to account.'

The Immigration Service's director declined to comment directly about the accusations, but said in a written answer that the service had been aware of the practice.

'We have known that applicants have in some cases withdrawn the money from the bank shortly after using it as documentation for us,' the service said.

No-one intervened in residence permit scam