FPI drivers denied visas over "fraud"
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n by Melanie Hammond
Inn First Point International truck drivers' programme hit another low this week after the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) confirmed that FPI clients are highly unlikely to be issued with their green cards.
In a statement the INS division of the US Department of Justice writes: "Agents located 25 applications that were approved, based on fraudulent or misleading information, and another 25 pending approval. All those identified have been returned to the INS for denial and/or revocation. To date, no one participating in the Truck Driver Programme has successfully obtained a visa."
An INS official has told CM that letters serving as "a notice of intent to deny" were being sent to the individuals affected.
FPI vice-president Philip Lyons says the company has not been notified of this development and claims that his US legal advisers have told him that the INS petitions can only be withdrawn if fraud can be proven. He adds: "They haven't even told us where the fraud is."
In the meantime more details on the charges against former FPI chief executive David Webster have emerged. They involve "visa fraud, inducing aliens to enter the US in violation of law and using a facility in interstate or foreign commerce to promote illegal activity". The INS has also stated that "more arrests are expected in this investigation", although this is not thought to involve clients of the programme.
Webster was finally released on hail last week after raising the Sim bond, $250,000 cash and rental payments for the "electronic tag" he has been ordered to wear.
The INS has 60 days to prepare its evidence.
• In the UK it has emerged that FM's long
term solicitors Fox Williams has notified the company that it will no longer act for it. Fox Williams represented FM earlier this month at an Employment Appeal Tribunal where the DTI sought to prohibit the company from acting as an employment agency.
The tribunal's decision is expected within the next few weeks.