US varsity shutdown: India seeks report on students

"We have asked for a report from our Embassy and from our Consulate General and when a report is issued, we will be taking it up with the government of the US," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters here today.

He said, meanwhile, the missions have been instructed that the welfare of the students will have to be looked into by them.

However, the minister said it was "strange" that the affected students have not approached the Indian Consulate so far.

Duped by the authorities of Tri-Valley University, which has now been shut down, hundreds of Indian students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, faced the threat of being deported back home after having lost their student visa status.

"Any activity involving visa fraud would obviously be of great concern to us. The investigation of that is done by law enforcement, obviously with our cooperation, since we are the ones who issue visas," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference in Washington.
According to a federal complaint filed in a California court last week, the University helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.

The university is said to have 1,555 students, of which 95 per cent are Indian nationals, the complaint said.