ATA Held Immigration Seminar – Attorneys suggestions

In the wake of the Arrests of Indian students on immigration fraud, American Telugu Association (ATA) held a webinar on immigration to clarify on the legalities of CPT and how to avoid entering into colleges with attractive offers of Day1 CPT. The president of ATA, Parmesh Bheemreddy said, students should not look for short cuts and stay within the confines of the law. He said, USA is the best country in the world for opportunities and freedom of life. The three immigrations attorneys from Atlanta, Ravi Mannam, Michale F Sofo, Hemant Ramachandran, advised to follow the below points, when making a decision about entering a college.

1. Do your homework

2. Stay away from commission agents

3. Commission agents direct the students to schools where they get more commission

4. Genuine schools ask for TOEFL/IELTS and/or GRE

5. Call accreditation bodies and Make sure the college is accredited

6. When you are a student, your goal should be to study

7. Don’t look for short cuts

8. If there are no real people involved, be cautious with such schools

9. Don’t fall for anything, that is too good to be true or suspicious, for example,

    a. Someone is emailing and calling, but, no personal contact, with no physical
        location for the school, it is a red flag

    b. Colleges offering unreasonable benefits

10. To find where the detained students are

     a. Go to https://www.ice.gov/ -> Detainee locator

11. Call local (where the detainees are picked up) Immigration and Customs
      Enforcement (ICE) facility to find where the detainees are

      a. There will be visiting hours to visit

      b. They will be generally away from a city

12. For questions -> info@ataworld.org or atahelp@ataworld.org

13.  If you have any questions, post your questions at
       https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10LKzRHEF3zqwRsZjC8-Ekgk4ukBp619G-Z7opAwveEM/edit?usp=sharing