Tibetan man sentenced to over two years in US prison for asylum fraud scheme: USCIS report

Washington, DC [US], October 27 : A Tibetan man has received a prison sentence of over two years for his involvement in a scheme to submit false asylum applications for financial gain, according to a report released on Wednesday by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as reported by Phayul.

Tenzin Norbu, 56, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and mandated to pay $170,000 in forfeiture for being part of a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud and for making false statements on asylum applications submitted to USCIS.

The sentence was handed down on October 15 by Judge Kimba M. Wood of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, as highlighted by Phayul.

This conviction resulted from a collaborative investigation conducted by USCIS, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) under US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. These agencies worked together for over three years to expose the scheme.

Court documents state that between 2007 and 2018, Norbu and others prepared and submitted numerous asylum applications that contained fabricated stories claiming the applicants were Tibetan and would face persecution if returned to Tibet, which is under Chinese control.

Investigators noted that Norbu charged approximately $5,000 for these services and guided clients on how to respond to questions about the fabricated stories during interviews, as emphasised in the Phayul report.

As law enforcement began looking into the scheme, Norbu fled the US for Canada. After nearly five years of avoiding extradition, he was ultimately sent back to the US.

A federal grand jury indicted him in March 2024, and he entered a guilty plea in May 2025 to one charge of conspiracy to commit asylum fraud and make false statements, violating 18 United States Code, section 371, as cited by the Phayul report.

The US government estimated that Norbu profited around $170,000 from the fraudulent activities, which were forfeited as part of his sentence.

Officials indicated that the case impacted nearly 100 individuals, leaving some in a state of uncertain immigration status. Some applicants reportedly had legitimate asylum claims even without the fabricated narratives, while others may have received asylum based on the fraudulent applications.

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