After a seven-year legal battle, a UK tribunal has ruled that a Bangladeshi national can be deported from the country after determining he used a proxy to fraudulently complete an English language test required for his immigration status.
The Upper Tribunal, led by Judge Bulpitt, found it “highly probable” that Md Abdur Rahim, now 37, engaged in deception by employing a stand-in to sit the mandatory English language test on his behalf in 2012. The finding affirms the Home Office’s longstanding refusal to grant him indefinite leave to remain.
Rahim’s case is among thousands that followed a 2014 BBC Panorama exposé revealing widespread fraud at English testing centres operated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The investigation prompted the UK Home Office to invalidate many results, including Rahim’s.
13 Years in the UK, 7 Years in Court
Rahim first arrived in the UK in 2007 as a student and legally remained in the country until 2014. His 2012 application to extend his leave to remain included a Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) result, which the Home Office later claimed had been fraudulently obtained.
In October 2017, Rahim applied for indefinite leave to remain on the grounds of long residency, citing 10 years of continuous presence in the UK. However, the Home Office rejected the application, arguing that his previous use of deception in 2012 rendered the claim invalid.
Rahim challenged the decision, launching a lengthy legal process that spanned the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal, and eventually the Court of Appeal.
ETS Scandal and Forensic Voice Analysis
At the heart of the case was Rahim’s test, taken at the London College of Media and Technology in 2012—one of the centres later implicated in systemic test fraud. Of the 159 tests conducted that day, 131 were found to be invalid, including Rahim’s. The remaining 28 were flagged as “questionable.”
The Home Office submitted evidence based on forensic voice analysis conducted by ETS using biometric technology. Officials matched Rahim’s voice sample to others from separate tests, indicating that a proxy likely sat for him.
Despite Rahim’s insistence that he had taken the test himself, he was unable to provide credible supporting evidence. His testimony relied on a 2018 witness statement describing his trip to the test centre, but he failed to provide corroboration from anyone who referred him to the site or from his partner.
Judge Bulpitt criticized Rahim’s account as “wilfully vague,” lacking transparency and crucial supporting detail. In contrast, he described the Home Office’s case as “compelling,” especially in light of the exceptional test score Rahim received and the high frequency of fraud documented at the testing centre.
Quote from the Tribunal
In his ruling, Judge Bulpitt stated:
“Overall, we found Mr Rahim’s account to lack transparency, to be wilfully vague, and to lack support in circumstances where supporting evidence—especially from his partner—could reasonably be expected.”
He added that the Home Office’s conclusion that Rahim used a proxy was “highly probable,” given the volume of fraudulent tests recorded at the centre and biometric evidence from ETS.
Broader Implications
Rahim’s case shines a spotlight on the scale of immigration fraud exposed in the wake of the Panorama investigation, as well as the growing backlog of immigration appeals. According to government data, more than 41,000 immigration appeal cases are currently pending across the UK.
The UK government has pledged to address this backlog by cutting down the average time for appeals to reach court to just 24 days.
Legal observers note that while some students affected by the ETS scandal were wrongly accused, many—including Rahim—have failed to provide convincing evidence to counter the government’s findings.
The tribunal’s ruling clears the way for Rahim’s removal from the UK, 13 years after his initial entry and more than a decade after the test in question. No further right of appeal has been granted at this stage.
The Home Office has yet to comment publicly on the outcome but is expected to proceed with deportation measures in line with the tribunal’s decision.
New Daily Prime will continue monitoring developments around immigration tribunal rulings and the broader fallout from the ETS English test scandal.
