A total of 25 people have been arrested over the past three years over using fake credentials to apply to Hong Kong’s universities, with one of them sentenced to a 17-week jail term.
Acting security minister Michael Cheuk told the legislature on Wednesday the Immigration Department had been strictly checking applications for student visas or visas under talent admission schemes, adding that authorities would “take resolute enforcement action” against suspected fakers.
Students at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Photo: GovHK.
Police have identified 14 “unscrupulous” mainland Chinese agents suspected of helping applicants produce false documents and have notified Chinese authorities, Cheuk said.
From January 2022 up to this month, 25 people were arrested on suspicion of using false documents to get into Hong Kong universities. Eight have so far been prosecuted and three convicted, with the highest sentence being 17 weeks’ imprisonment.
In Hong Kong, the offence of making or using a false instrument is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a fine of HK$150,000.
Cheuk was responding to a question from legislator Chan Wing-kwong, who asked him how many people had been arrested for using forged documents to get a Hong Kong student visa, or a visa under the talent scheme, or to renew their visas.
University students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, on August, 31, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Chan said agents in mainland China were reportedly making huge profits by helping applicants to forge documents, including educational credentials and employment documentation.
Cheuk did not reveal how many people have been arrested or prosecuted for using fake documents to get visas under the talent schemes.
Forged documents
Local media has reported forgery cases since the government introduced the Top Talent Pass Scheme, an initiative to attract university graduates and high earners, and expanded a series of schemes to attract graduates and other talented people.
Top officials in Hong Kong meet the press on December 23 to introduce their plans to attract overseas talents and companies. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Earlier in December, HK01 published an investigation, in which a Guangzhou-based agent told an undercover reporter that they could arrange for Hong Kong employers to falsify employment documents for applicants for the Top Talent Pass Scheme. With “evidence” of employment, including fabricated payslips, applicants could renew their visas.
In July, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Business School said more than 30 students had used forged degree credentials and other documents to enrol in its master’s programmes.
The University of Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
In a statement to HKFP, HKU Business School said police had started investigating the incidents, but this was challenging since the agents involved were believed to be located in mainland China and overseas. No Hong Kong agents had yet been identified.
In October, a 24-year-old mainland Chinese woman was sentenced to 17 weeks’ imprisonment for using forged documents to enter the master’s programme at HKU. But with time served, she was released immediately and repatriated.
