Chinese Woman Charged With Faking U.S. Student-Visa Documents

(Bloomberg) -- A Chinese woman was indicted in Chicago for allegedly providing false documents to more than 2,600 student-visa holders who wanted to illegally extend their stays in the U.S. beyond graduation day for as long as six years.

Weiyun, or “Kelly,” Huang was charged with conspiracy and fraud for supplying bogus employment records, financial statements and tax documents, according to a federal indictment unsealed Friday. She has been in custody since her arrest in California in March, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, John R. Lausch Jr., said in a statement.

Huang, 30, and the phony companies she allegedly created received about $2 million from students seeking fraudulent paperwork to qualify for visa extensions, according to the indictment. She advertised her services in China on the “Chinese Looking for Job” website and the “Job Hungers of North America” WeChat messaging platform, prosecutors said.

Foreign students holding F-1 visas can remain in the U.S. after graduation if they get temporary jobs in their field of study, with some qualifying for longer stays under H-1B visas if they have science and technology skills. For a fee, Huang allegedly provided fake documents such as job-offer letters, payroll records and tax forms, prosecutors said.

Some of the students were from an unidentified university in Chicago, according to the indictment, which cited several unnamed individuals who purchased the fraudulent documents but were not charged.

Each count of visa fraud carries a penalty of as much as 10 years in prison, while conspiracy is five years, prosecutors said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janan Hanna in Chicago at jhanna31@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.