Woman jailed for 17 weeks for using fake papers to get Hong Kong student visa

A student from mainland China has been sentenced to 17 weeks in prison for using a fake certificate from an Ivy League university in the United States and making false statements to immigration officials to get into a top business school in Hong Kong.

Wu Linhui, 24, was among about 30 students involved in the fake grades scandal, which was revealed in May by the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) business school.

Wu’s lawyer, Simon So, told Eastern Court on Thursday that the defendant’s mother hoped her daughter would have a bright future and therefore hired an agency to handle the postgraduate application.

“The defendant’s parents felt very guilty for finding this agency for their son,” So said mitigating.

Wu claimed to be a mathematics major at Cornell University while applying for a one-year HKU graduate program in finance in September 2022.

He received a conditional offer from HKU and subsequently applied to the Immigration Department for a permit to enter the city to study.