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Visa scandal: Student says he has never met anyone who cheated

IN RECENT months a growing number of students have come forward expressing their dismay at the way they were treated by the UK government over the student visa scandal.

Raja Noman Hussain, 28, was among the 34,000 students whose visas were revoled after the Home Office accused them in 2014 of cheating in a government approved English language test. International students are required to take these test in order to renew their visas, and Hussain claims he had no need to cheat, as he came to the UK with a good level of English.


While in detention, Hussain claims he met more than 100 other international students who had also been arrested and detained for allegedly cheating on the Home Office approved English test.

“Every day I met three or four new people who were detained because of Toeic," Hussain was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"Some people were doing master’s, some were doing PhDs. Every second young person I met was there for the same reason. You asked: ‘Why are you here?’ They said: ‘Because of the English language test.’ I never met anyone who cheated. They were well-educated, with good English.”

Hussain, who was held in detention for four months, says he was wrongly accused in the visa scandal. He also said that most of the students he met in detention told him the Home Office had not provided any evidence to indicate they had cheated.

The Pakistani national has been trying to prove his innocence these past five years, without much success.

More than 1,000 students have been removed from the UK as a result of these accusation.

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Lakshmi Mittal

Mittal's exit comes as Rachel Reeves prepares a fresh tax raising budget aimed at balancing the government's finances

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Lakshmi Mittal quits Britain for Switzerland and Dubai over inheritance tax concerns

Highlights

  • Lakshmi Mittal, worth over £15 bn, has moved his tax residence from UK to Switzerland with plans to spend most time in Dubai.
  • Inheritance tax concerns, not income tax, drove the decision of the "King of Steel" to leave after 30 years in Britain.
  • The departure marks another high-profile exit as chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares major tax rises in the coming Budget.
Lakshmi Mittal, one of Britain's wealthiest men, has ended his three-decade association with the UK, relocating his tax residence to Switzerland and planning to base himself in Dubai. The 74-year-old steel magnate, worth approximately £15.5 bn according to the Asian Rich List 2025, is the latest prominent entrepreneur to leave Britain amid Labour's tax reforms targeting the super-rich.

The Indian-born billionaire built his fortune through ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steelmaker, in which he and his family hold nearly 40 per cent ownership. Since arriving in London in 1995, Mittal became a prominent figure in British business, acquiring expensive properties including a £57 m mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens known as the "Taj Mittal."

An adviser familiar with Mittal's family plans told The Sunday Times that, inheritance tax was the decisive factor in the decision. "It wasn't the tax on income or capital gains that was the issue, the issue was inheritance tax."

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