‘I felt scared but couldn’t do anything’: The fake families being smuggled into the UK

Published

12 months ago

May 24, 2023

admin

“I have put her as your wife, so take her.”

As Ratha, a Sri Lankan rice farmer, stood at Colombo Airport waiting for his ticket to the UK, the job recruiter gestured to a woman he had never seen before.

“Unless you go with her, you will have trouble and your money will not be returned,” he was told.

Ratha had paid this man – who he believed to be a recruitment “agent” – £50,000 for passage to the UK, selling property that had been in his family for generations.

But in being forced to pose as someone’s fake husband, he claims to have fallen victim to criminal gangs exploiting the UK’s skilled worker visa system.

While Rishi Sunak has made stopping English Channel small boat crossings one of his key priorities, Sky News can reveal allegations a legal route is being used for people smuggling.

Criminal gangs are using Britain’s need to fill jobs by using the skilled worker visa system as a route to move people to this country. Under the scheme, someone who has been offered a job in the UK is allowed to bring dependents with them.

But Sky News has been told about multiple cases where the entitlement to bring dependents on a skilled worker visa is being abused.

The hefty price tag

Ratha says he paid the money because he believed it would result in a job, and eventually, permanent residency in the UK.

The woman who pretended to be his wife – the owner of the work visa – has now disappeared.

He is staying with friends in Staffordshire because his relatives don’t want him to be alone, fearing for his mental health.

He claims he was fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka, and was unaware he would be travelling as a fake dependent on someone else’s work visa before he got to Colombo airport.

“I thought I was the only one travelling. At the entrance of the airport I was told to wait then a woman arrived,” says Ratha.

“The agent said: ‘I have put her as your wife, so take her’.”

At first, he refused to go along with the plan but he claims to have been threatened and refused a refund.

The fake son

With Ratha came a 19-year-old, who says he pretended to be his son.

His name is Hinthujan and he’s now living in Liverpool. He cuts a fearful, lonely figure.

His family spent their life savings on his journey to the UK hoping he could join their relatives in the city’s Sri Lankan community.

Hinthujan says he had no idea what was happening until he got to Colombo Airport, where he was forced to partner with a fake father and mother.

Unable to speak a word of English, he is now an asylum seeker after the group were questioned and detained at Heathrow Airport.

“There are lots of problems going on in Sri Lanka. It is not possible to stay there – that is why we came,” he told Sky News via a translator.

“I was scared when [the agent] told me, ‘If you say they are your mother and father, there will be no problem’.”

‘I felt scared but couldn’t do anything’

When Mrs A turned up for her flight from Sri Lanka to the UK, she says the people she paid £65,000 to for a work visa handed over her permit, flight tickets – and a 12 year-old boy.

“It was a shock,” she says. “It was all last minute. I felt scared but couldn’t do anything about it. They guaranteed there wouldn’t be any problems.”

After they landed at Heathrow Airport, the boy was met by people Mrs A didn’t recognise and she never saw him again.

Mrs A – who asked not to be identified – said the visa was issued by the British High Commission in Sri Lanka.

“It was only after I arrived in the UK that I realised it was a big mistake. I know I’ve been used.

“The boy already knew he was coming into the country but I didn’t know.”

The documents

Mrs A handed over the sum of money believing the agents would find her work in the UK – and that she didn’t need to speak English.

She was offered a job by a care company and then provided with a Certificate of Sponsorship by the Home Office enabling her visa. But it’s a basic requirement for people coming to work in the UK as carers on skilled worker visas to speak English.

Mrs A can’t read, write, or speak English and has no qualifications. But a fake certificate used by the gang to apply for a job lists her as having a “very good pass” in an English exam.

Sky News has obtained the false documents submitted to the care agency with her job application. They include a nursing diploma and fake certificates for biology, physics and chemistry.

Her fake CV boasts she spent seven years “providing direct nursing care to patients in a busy hospital ward environment” – and two years providing care to patients in a home for the elderly.

It says she’s skilled at safe patient handling and first aid.

None of this is true.

What are skilled worker visas – and how many are granted each year?

In February 2022, the Government changed the rules for those wanting to come to the UK to work, making it easier for those from abroad to apply.

It expanded the Shortage Occupation List and removed the requirement to prove that UK residents were unable to fill any listed roles. Care Support Worker is the lowest-skilled job on this expanded Shortage Occupations List.

The Migration Advisory Council’s annual report recommended the change, as well as setting a minimum salary of £20,480 per year.

The government agreed with this recommendation at the time “to help ensure short-term sustainability as social care builds back from the pandemic”.

Last year, almost 150,000 people came to the UK last year on skilled worker visas.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

‘People sell everything and end up with nothing’

Zeena Luchowa, from the Law Society Immigration Committee, said: “It’s extremely alarming and concerning that we have a system that is not catching exploitation at this level and there needs to be some way of the home office reviewing its systems to look at what’s not working here.”

Sky News contacted the firm Mrs A thought she was coming to work for. It said they had no idea the documents used for Mrs A’s application by the recruiters in Sri Lanka were fake.

Care England represents the largest number of independent adult social care providers in the UK. It confirmed that there is no “specific requirement” for any healthcare-related qualifications to come to this country as a carer. But it is a requirement to speak, read, write and understand English to at least an intermediate level.

Mrs A’s legal adviser said: “The British government needs people. But the criminal gangs use this work permit legal system for their own benefit to make a lot of money.”

Meanwhile, he said, people from other countries “sell their jewellery and property, give it to criminal gangs and end up with nothing. They come here and can’t work, can’t rent and end up on the street.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are actively investigating the claims made.

“Abuse of our immigration system will not be tolerated. Anyone who has used false documents, misrepresented their personal circumstances or practiced deception by any other means will have their application refused and may face a ban on making further applications for up to 10 years.”

The Home Office is now reviewing its processes to try to prevent future abuse of the skilled worker visa system.

‘I sold everything three generations of my family worked for’

Vinothan is another Sri Lankan who has joined the UK’s backlog of asylum seekers. The job he thought he was coming to do didn’t work out.

Vinothan, his wife and two young children are now living in a friend’s spare room. He claims the family can’t return to Sri Lanka because they’ve been threatened by the criminal gangs who arranged their working visa to the UK.

He paid £26,000 to people in Sri Lanka for a full-time job offer to work as a carer at a British company – not the same one Mrs A applied for.

On induction day, Vinothan says he got a uniform but no paid work. He claims not to have been told before leaving Sri Lanka he would have to do unpaid training for an unspecified period of time.

As he is now in dispute with the company, his Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK has been withdrawn.

Wiping away tears, he explains that the money was his family’s entire life savings – after they sold everything, including land and jewellery.

“£26,000 is a very big amount for us from Sri Lanka. My grandfather’s and grandmother’s jewellery and three generations earned that. Now I don’t have anything. It’s all gone. [The criminal gangs in Sri Lanka] have cheated me.

“How can I get that back?”

Reporting by Lisa Holland and Nick Stylianou
Production by Megan Baynes
Edited by Serena Kutchinsky

UK

Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak

Published

3 hours ago

May 4, 2024

admin

Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss to Labour in West Midlands mayoral race in blow to Rishi Sunak

Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered.

Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the local elections.

With the race neck-and-neck, in the end it came down to the results in one borough – Labour-supporting Sandwell.

“This is the most important thing I will ever do,” Mr Parker said in his acceptance speech.

“I promise you that I will deliver jobs,” he added.

He told Sky News he would take buses “back into public control” and deliver the “largest programme of social housing we’ve had in this region for more than 40 years”.

And he thanked his predecessor, who he said had “led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that”.

Mr Street told Sky News he was “personally devastated”, had “put my all into this”, and “genuinely believed we were making real progress across the region”.

He said it was “my campaign, totally”, adding: “I’m not going to try to push responsibility anywhere else. There’ll be no sloping shoulders from me.”

He wished his successor “all strength and wisdom”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was a “phenomenal result” and “beyond our expectations”.

He added: “People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.

“My changed Labour Party is back in the service of working people, and stands ready to govern.”

Local elections live
The mayoral election results

Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator, said it was a “significant victory”.

She added: “Right across the country people have voted for change and the message is clear – it’s time for a general election and a Labour government to get our country’s future back.”

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a historic third term as London mayor with a convincing win over Conservative rival Susan Hall.

These results will increase pressure on the prime minister, who had been hoping for a repeat of the success enjoyed by Conservative Ben Houchen who held on as the mayor of Tees Valley.

Sam Coates, Sky News’s deputy political editor, said he had seen messages from Conservative MPs’ WhatsApp group.

One from former cabinet minister Simon Clarke, whom Coates said “wants Rishi Sunak to leave”, said: “These results are awful and should be a massive wake-up call.

“If we fight the same campaign in a few months [in the general election] we’ll get the same outcome or rather worse.

“Reform UK standing more candidates will cause greater damage.”

The loss of either the Teesside or West Midlands mayoralties would give Tory rebels who want to change leader a “huge amount of fuel”, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said in the Electoral Dysfunction podcast.

Mr Street, who was seeking a third term in office, sought to distance himself from the Conservative brand during his campaign and instead ran on a personal platform.

Sky News recently revealed that Mr Street was sending out election literature with an endorsement from former prime minister Boris Johnson which urged people to “forget about the government”.

His campaign website also made no mention of Mr Sunak on its homepage and was coloured in green rather than Conservative blue.

UK

Sadiq Khan secures convincing win over Tory rival in London mayoral race

Published

5 hours ago

May 4, 2024

admin

Sadiq Khan secures convincing win over Tory rival in London mayoral race

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a historic third term as London mayor, seeing off Tory challenger Susan Hall.

It followed “wild rumours” the incumbent could have suffered a shock defeat, although both sides subsequently said they believed Mr Khan would win.

He received 1,088,225 votes (43.8%) to be re-elected, a majority of nearly 276,000 over Ms Hall, who secured 812,397 votes (32.7%).

Follow live:
The results as they come in

It was the first time any candidate for London mayor has won a third term in office, with Mr Khan’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone both having served two terms.

As he took to the stage to make his victory speech, the re-elected mayor was booed and heckled with a shout of “Khan killed London” by the far-right Britain First candidate, who received fewer votes than Count Binface.

Speaking at City Hall, Mr Khan said: “We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity, but I couldn’t be more proud that we answered the fearmongering with facts, hate with hope, and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.

“We ran a campaign that was in keeping with the spirit and values of this great city, a city that regards our diversity not as a weakness, but as an almighty strength – and one that rejects right hard-wing populism and looks forward, not back.”

He also thanked his family for their support, but apologised for them having to deal with “protests by our home” and “threats”.

While congratulating Mr Khan on his victory, Ms Hall said he should stop “patronising” people who care about London.

When she had previously challenged him in a mayoral debate about “gangs running around with machetes” in the capital, he had said she should “stop watching The Wire” – a gritty US-based crime drama.

In her concession speech, she said: “The thing that matters the most, and to me, is reforming the Met and making London safe again. I hope Sadiq makes this his top priority.

“He owes it to the families of those thousands of people who have lost lives to knife crime under his mayoralty.

“And I hope too that he stops patronising people, like me, who care. This isn’t an episode of The Wire, this is real life on his watch.”

The pair had repeatedly clashed during the campaign, fought out amid concerns about knife crime and the handling of pro-Palestinian marches in the capital.

Just recently, Mr Khan had described his Conservative rival as the “most dangerous candidate I have fought against” over her past social media activity.

Hitting back, Ms Hall said she had “learnt” from her mistakes and branded his comment “outrageous”.

A clear dividing line between the candidates had been Mr Khan’s controversial expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), which has been the subject of ongoing protests and which Ms Hall had pledged to scrap.

During the race, the Conservatives were forced to delete a clip used in an advert against Mr Khan’s record on crime after it emerged it used footage of a stampede at a New York subway station.

The result comes after Rishi Sunak’s Tory party took a hammering at the local elections, shedding hundreds of seats and losing more than 10 councils.

Meanwhile, Labour has made gains across the country, winning the Blackpool South by-election with a 26% swing from the Tories and taking control of councils in key battleground areas.

The party also picked up new mayoralties, including the critical regions of East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire, which includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is effectively the last stop on the journey to the general election and I am really pleased to be able to show we are making progress, we have earned the trust and confidence of voters and we are making progress towards that general election.”

Mr Sunak has taken consolation in the Conservative victory in the Tees Valley mayoral race, which was retained by Lord Houchen and seems to be enough to calm rumblings among discontented Tory MPs.

However, the crunch contest for West Midlands mayor remains on a knife-edge.

Labour has also not had it all its own way, losing control of councils in Oldham and Kirklees after victories for independent candidates opposing the party’s stance on Gaza.

Labour also lost seats on other councils including Bristol, where the Greens extended its lead as the largest party and could now be set to run the city council despite narrowly failing to win outright control.

Notably, all 14 councillors in the newly created Bristol Central constituency are now Green, where the party is looking to unseat Labour’s shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire at the general election.

Sky News elections analyst Professor Michael Thrasher also says although the results are bad news for the Tories, they do not put Labour on course for an overall majority in the Commons in a general election.

The Tories have so far lost 473 seats and control of 12 councils, while Labour has won eight councils and gained 185 seats.

The Liberal Democrats gained 104 seats and won control of Dorset council from the Conservatives, while the Greens are up 74 seats.

UK

Conservatives suffer worst local election results in years – with London and West Midlands mayoral votes still to come

Published

20 hours ago

May 4, 2024

admin

Conservatives suffer worst local election results in years - with London and West Midlands mayoral votes still to come

The Conservative Party has suffered its worst electoral defeat in years, losing more than half of its councillors who stood for re-election across England.

Labour hailed a “truly historic” result in Rishi Sunak’s own backyard of York and North Yorkshire, where David Skaith smashed Tory Keane Duncan by almost 15,000 votes.

The region, which was electing a mayor for the first time, covers Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency and is an area Labour has historically struggled to compete in.

Follow live:
The results as they come in

Speaking at Northallerton Town Football Club, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We’ve had a positive campaign here, and I am very, very proud to stand here as leader of the Labour Party to celebrate this historic victory.

“And it is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.”

Sir Keir also renewed his demand that the prime minister call a general election.

The party also had successes in the North East and East Midlands mayoral votes and in the Blackpool by-election.

There was a sliver of hope for the government, with Lord Ben Houtchen holding on to his role as the mayor of Tees Valley.

Analysis: Labour’s future success is less clear-cut after the local elections

Appearing alongside Lord Houchen at a victory rally, Rishi Sunak said: “I’ve got a message for the Labour Party too because they know that they have to win here in order to win a general election – they know that.

“They assumed that Tees Valley would stroll back to them – but it didn’t.”

This victory is likely to have quelled talk of rebellion among disenchanted Tory MPs who had threatened to oust the prime minister if the results proved a disaster, but it remains to be seen whether the Tories can hold on to the West Midlands mayoralty.

Of the 107 councils that held elections on Thursday, 102 have declared their full results, with the Conservatives losing more than half of the seats it has been defending so far.

Some 468 Tory councillors lost their seats as the party lost control of 12 councils.

Sky’s election coverage plan – how to follow

The weekend: Sophy Ridge will host another special edition of the Politics Hub on Saturday from 7pm until 9pm. And Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips will take a look back over what’s happened from 8.30am until 10am.

How do I watch?: Freeview 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, BT 313, YouTube and the Sky News website and app. You can also watch Sky News live here, and on YouTube.

The Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidsonis out now, and Politics at Jack and Sam’s will navigate the big question of where the results leave us ahead of a general election on Sunday.

You can also follow the latest on our politics page

Labour won control of eight councils as it gained 173 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 100 seats, the Greens 67, and Reform UK picked up two.

However, Labour suffered setbacks in Oldham and Kirklees, where it lost control of the councils after victories for independent candidates opposing its stance on Gaza.

Sky News elections analyst Professor Michael Thrasher says although the results are bad news for the Tories, they do not put Labour on course for an overall majority in the Commons in a general election.

Further results are expected over the weekend, including key mayoral contests in London and the West Midlands.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan is attempting to secure re-election in London, while Conservative Andy Street is defending his position in the West Midlands.

Rumours had swirled in London since the polls closed that Mr Khan could have suffered a shock defeat to Conservative Susan Hall, however Sky News understands both parties now believe the incumbent will remain in City Hall.

The results of those elections are expected to arrive at 10pm in London and 2.15pm in the West Midlands.

Other results still to be announced include council elections in the South and West of England where the Liberal Democrats and Greens hope to make progress.

There are also metro mayoral elections yet to declare a winner in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City, North Tyneside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.