Faces 10 Years For Short-cutting Student Visa Process

Anything people want that's banned or regulated begets a black market, and flight training is no different. The US Attorney's Office reports that 28-year-old flight school operator Karena Chuang of Elsinore, California has been scheduled for a December 21 preliminary hearing on charges she offered foreign students help in circumventing anti-terrorism laws in the US.

The website of Blue Diamond Flight School in La Verne, CA says its goal is "to help you make your dream a reality in the shortest, most efficient way." Investigators with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement say that Chuang took that shortcut mentality too far. The Lake Elsinore Wildomar Patch reports she's accused of posing as a cousin to eager students from Egypt, Sri Lanka and Taiwan to help them get visas, and encouraging them to state their intention to train at flight schools other than hers, which is not approved to enroll foreign students.

The US Attorney's office says Chuang enticed students with promises she could provide training at lower costs and in shorter times than approved schools, then applied to other schools which were approved to enroll foreign students for I-20 forms certifying that a student is eligible for an M-1 student visa. Once here, the students would instead get training at Blue Diamond.

Chuang's website details a payment plan by which incoming students would pay 10 percent of the cost of their training package up-front, before they arrived in the US. Chuang would allegedly pay the application fees accompanying the I-20 forms to other flight schools, posing as a relative.

The federal investigation began in June 2010 when US immigration officials in Cairo said they found two Egyptian nationals who had received visas to attend a different California flight school, but admitted in an interview their plan was to enroll at Blue Diamond.

While she awaits trial, Chuang is free on $40,000 bail and must wear a monitoring device. She faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.

FMI: www.bluediamondaviation.net