Fake documents, debt and student visas – inside the UK’s immigration system
Coaching on Zoom, “fake” documents to secure a visa and “don’t panic” advice during questions at immigration – this is the story of one family’s attempt to get to the UK.
Sky News follows the journey of a family who came from India on student and dependent visas – obtained they say from “agents” using false documents – but have now spent two years waiting for a decision on their leave to remain.
“110% fake,” says Sami. “The agent put the money in the account – which is fake. It’s nothing. But he creates the document like I have the money.”
Sami – not his real name – is explaining how he came to the UK with his wife and two young children on student and dependent visas which he says were obtained by agents – or criminal gangs – in India using fake bank statements.
It is a rare insight into claims of abuse of Britain’s immigration system.
Be in the audience for our immigration debate.
Sami says the agents coached them on how to speak to immigration officers in the UK if questioned
How they got here
Sami says the family needed to show they could support themselves financially in the UK – which they couldn’t.
He says the agents created fake bank documents purporting to show the family had a lump sum of £10,000 in one bank account and a loan of nearly £25,000 in a second account – to cover living expenses in the UK. None of this was true.
He says he paid agents in India nearly all his life savings – more than £20,000 – to arrange a place on a master’s course for his wife.
“I sell my house, then secondly I sell my motorbike – Yamaha – thirdly I sell my wife’s whole gold – earrings, the chain, and some rings,” Sami tells us.
They arrived in early 2023 but when his wife failed to attend the university, they were sent a letter by the Home Office telling them their visas had been cancelled, and they would have to leave the UK by October that year.
Sami says agents helped to create this document that appears to show the family had over £10,000 – money they never had
Since then, they have been in a cycle of rejections and reapplying for leave to remain, and their case remains unresolved.
A poor man from India, Sami says it was always his dream to live in the UK. So he began researching how to get here.
“UK is my dream country. So that’s why I was choosing the UK. Cricket – Ashes, like England and Australia. My favourite cricketer and bowler, Andrew Flintoff. Greenery, lots of people moving in London. London, then, I decided this is a good place to move.”
Sami admits his wife never intended to attend university in the UK
Training sessions
When they found the agents to arrange their passage to Britain, Sami says his wife was even given coaching via Zoom while still in India ahead of any potentially difficult questions by UK immigration officials at Heathrow.
In the videos, Sami’s wife repeats her lines again and again.
“Why UK?” asks the woman doing the training. “UK is a multicultural country,” says Sami’s wife.
At another coaching session – this time in the agent’s office, and filmed by Sami – she rehearses: “My hobbies are gardening, reading, newspaper, cooking, baking etc.”
The agents – or criminal gangs – also provided a crib sheet of written tips titled “don’t get panic at the time of immigration”. It contains handwritten notes suggesting things to say about university courses.
But having been granted visas to come to the UK, Sami admits it was never their intention that his wife would study.
Ever since our first meeting, Sami has always clung on to the hope that with two young children – one needing medical treatment – the Home Office is unlikely to send them back to India.
“There is a condition that if your kids are with you, they are not going to detain or deport you. Maybe they give you a chance,” he says.
“My application is still in the Home Office. The government will decide.”
When we first met Sami and his family they lived in a house with at least nine other people
Sami says he is happy they came to the UK – but when we first met four months ago, he and his family were living in one room in a house shared by 13 people.
He isn’t sure of the exact number of people living in the house – or their legal status – but signals: “Upstairs – the bachelors.”
Sami’s wife is cooking in what is basically a cupboard.
“This is a small single room,” he says. “I sleep on the floor, My daughter, and my son, they sleep on the bed.”
Sami’s wife cooked dinners out of a cupboard in the one bedroom the family lived in
Relying on food banks
Subsequently, social services became involved in their case – declaring them destitute because of their immigration status and have provided them with new accommodation.
Sami has been using a food bank run by Asma Haq of the Marks Gate Relief Project.
She says: “As far as they’re concerned they haven’t done anything wrong. But the reality only hits them when they are left penniless.
“They have no accommodation, they don’t know where to go, and the agent stops making contact with them. That’s when they come to food banks like ourselves.”
Asma Haq runs Marks Gate Relief Project
‘There needs to be a tightened leash’
But Asma tells us she believes Sami is not an isolated case – she believes one in 10 of the people who use the food bank have come to the country illegally or have over-stayed legal visas.
“I just feel like the Home Office’s policies have been quite relaxed and there needs to be a tightened leash. It’s just visas that have been given left, right and centre so easily and so quickly,” she says.
“And the follow-up on the people who have entered into the country on those visas has been poor. Sometimes – I know because I deal with clients – some of them, as far as the Home Office is concerned, they’ve arrived legally.
“But then the paperwork they’ve supplied to the Home Office is actually fake paperwork, fake documentation that they’ve got processed back home.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Since we have not been supplied with any identifying information in relation to this case, we are not in a position to comment on the claims made.
“However, stringent systems are in place to identify and prevent fraudulent student visa applications, and we will continue to take tough action against companies and agents who are seeking to abuse, exploit or defraud international students.”
A man whose arrest sparked a series of protests outside an Essex hotel housing asylum seekers, has been found guilty of sexual assault.
The Bell Hotel in Epping became the focal point of demonstrations after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was arrested, and later charged, on 13 July with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.
Ethiopian national Kebatu, 41, was alleged to have attempted to kiss the teenager, put his hand on her thigh and brushed her hair in July after she offered him pizza.
An adult member of the public also accused Kebatu of trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty, days after he arrived in the UK on a small boat.
Police and protesters outside the Bell Hotel. Pic: PA
Kebatu, who was a “teacher of sports” in his home country, had denied two counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence near the Bell Hotel.
But at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, he was found guilty of all charges. District judge Christopher Williams took just 30 minutes to return the verdicts and his reasoning.
The three-day trial heard Kebatu had also told two teenagers he wanted to “have a baby with each of them” – but Kebatu had previously told the trial he was “not a wild animal”.
Mr Williams said he was not persuaded there was “any evidence to suggest the children fabricated any of the evidence they gave”.
The defendant, wearing a grey tracksuit and sitting with a translator, gave no visible reaction as Mr Williams told him he was guilty.
Kebatu is due to be sentenced at the same court on 23 September.
The judge told the defendant that he should expect an “immediate custodial sentence”.
Essex Police Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hooper paid tribute to the victims for ensuring the evidence put before the court was strong and true.
“It is because of their accounts of what happened, and the close co-operation with our Crown Prosecution Service colleagues, that we have been able to secure this conviction.
“We’re acutely aware that this incident has attracted widespread public interest.
“We have always said that we treat and investigate every report made to us without fear or favour.”
‘It must never happen again’
Conservative shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said the guilty verdict showed the risks of allowing asylum seekers “to roam around communities freely”.
“The crimes of this illegal migrant are shocking and heart-breaking and the victims have shown incredible bravery.
“This must never be allowed to happen again. Every illegal migrant should be detained immediately and swiftly deported.”
The incidents sparked protests and counter-protests outside the former Bell Hotel – as well as at hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
Rebecca Mundy, deputy chief crown prosecutor with CPS East of England, said: “This was an incident which became a cause of deep concern for the local community.
“Our prosecutors worked carefully and impartially to bring this case to justice according to the law.”
A total of 17 people have been injured, with most taken to hospital, after a bus struck pedestrians on a busy London street.
The driver of the Route 24 bus was among those hurt after the bus mounted the pavement on Victoria Street, near Victoria Station.
It took place at around 8.20am on Thursday, according to the Metropolitan Police.
“Two people were treated at the scene, while 15 were taken to and remain in hospital. This includes the driver of the bus. There were no life-threatening injuries reported,” police said in a statement.
A number of emergency vehicles, including police cars, ambulances and a fire engine, were called to the scene, with bus passengers also understood to be among those injured.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Injured transported to hospital following London bus crash
The road remains closed, with all vehicles being diverted from the area, police said.
Images from the scene show the front of the bus with visible damage and the windscreen smashed.
‘People were screaming’
Emit Suker, 47, told PA news agency: “It (the bus) was coming from Westminster. There were about 15, 16 people inside the bus. People were screaming – it was terrible.”
Another eyewitness said: “I heard a massive crash – came outside and there was a woman on the floor with loads of people around her.
“Lots of people from the gym had run out to help her.”
A trail of diesel running down Allington Street forced police to ban smoking in the area over fears of an incident.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson confirmed it was called at 8.20am to reports of a road traffic collision.
They added: “We have sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, a paramedic in a fast response car, a clinical team manager, an incident response officer and a command support vehicle. We’ve also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.
An eyewitness said they heard ‘a massive crash’
‘Distressing incident’
Rosie Trew, Transport for London’s (TfL) head of bus service delivery, said: “Our thoughts are with the people who have been injured following a bus incident at Victoria Street.
“We are working with the police and the operator, Transport UK, to urgently investigate this incident.
“This must have been a distressing incident for everyone involved and we have support available for anyone affected.”
Dashcam footage appeal
Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah said the crash would have been “very distressing” and, as part of the police investigation, they were asking for people to send in any footage of the incident.
“We are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to please contact us. We welcome any dashcam or mobile phone footage.
“We are working closely with our partners to clear the scene, but the road will remain closed for the next few hours, so please seek alternative routes,” she said.
Two pedestrians have been killed in bus crashes in the Victoria area in recent years.
Catherine Finnegan, 56, from County Galway, Ireland, died after she was hit by a double-decker bus at Victoria bus station in January last year.
In August 2021, Melissa Burr, 32, from Rainham, Kent, was killed at the station after bus driver Olusofa Popoola accidentally accelerated into the back of a stationary bus, shunting it into her.
The executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, Daniel Levy, has stepped down after nearly 25 years in the role.
A source close to the Lewis family trust which owns the majority stake in Spurs told Sky News that they want “more wins more often” in a “new era” for the club.
Mr Levy, known for his tough negotiating style, was often a source of frustration for fans who blame him for failing to deliver the players capable of winning regular silverware.
But he has also been responsible for transforming the club with a new stadium and a state-of-the-art training ground.
Mr Levy is stepping down after playing an instrumental role in bringing in new head coach Thomas Frank following the departure of Ange Postecoglou – who was sacked despite winning the Europa League with the club last season.
The victory over Manchester United ended Spurs’ 17-year wait for a trophy and will likely be seen as the high point of Mr Levy’s time as executive chairman.
The win put Spurs in the lucrative Champions League for the seventh time under My Levy – however it also came during a season that Tottenham finished 17th in the league on the back of a club-record of 22 defeats.
Mr Levy had previously brought in big name managers such as Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in failed attempts to bring long-awaited silverware to the club.
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou lifting the Europa League trophy with his players.
Pic: Pa
Before stepping down he was the longest-serving chairman in the Premier League after purchasing a stake in Spurs from Lord Alan Sugar in December 2000.
Mr Levy said this evening: “I am incredibly proud of the work I have done together with the executive team and all our employees. We have built this club into a global heavyweight competing at the highest level.
“More than that, we have built a community. I was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest people in this sport, from the team at Lilywhite House and Hotspur Way to all the players and managers over the years.
“I wish to thank all the fans that have supported me over the years. It hasn’t always been an easy journey but significant progress has been made. I will continue to support this club passionately.”
Read more from Sky News:
West Bank family describe daily harassment
Probe launched after plot to play sex noises during PMQs
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Spurs celebrate Europa League win with parade
Tottenham FC said in a statement: “As part of its succession planning, the club has made a number of senior appointments in recent months. Vinai Venkatesham was hired as chief executive officer (CEO), with Thomas Frank as our new men’s head coach and Martin Ho as women’s head coach.
“Peter Charrington joined the board and will step into the newly created role of non-executive chairman.”
It added: “There are no changes to the ownership or shareholder structure of the club.”
Mr Charrington said in a statement: “I am very honoured to become non-executive chairman of this extraordinary club and, on behalf of the board, I would like to thank Daniel and his family for their commitment and loyalty to the club over so many years.”
A source close to the Lewis family trust which owns the majority stake in Tottenham Hotspur told Sky News: “Generations of the Lewis family support this special football club and they want what the fans want – more wins more often. This is why you have seen recent changes, new leadership and a fresh approach. In Vinai, Thomas and Peter Charrington, they believe they are backing the right team to deliver on this. This is a new era.”
Spurs are ranked ninth on the Forbes soccer rich list with an estimated value of $3.3bn (£2.5bn).
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024