UK to enact new law against false visa sponsorship

The British government said on Thursday that a new law will make it a criminal offence to advertise the sale of false visa sponsorships, after an undercover media investigation claimed fake jobs are being openly offered online to help migrants fraudulently secure skilled worker visas in the UK. ‘The Times’ report secretly filmed agents advertising “certificates of sponsorship” through non-existent jobs that help visa holders meet the stringent Home Office annual salary thresholds. Such a certificate enables a migrant to apply for their skilled worker visa, with a complex web of bank transfers involving thousands of pounds ensuring that the requisite “salary” exists only on paper."Next week, it becomes a standalone criminal offence to advertise the selling of false visa sponsorships through online adverts, thanks to laws brought in by this government,” a Home Office spokesperson said.
“Anyone convicted faces an unlimited fine. These cases will be investigated, alongside resulting instances of illegal working, as we have no tolerance for fraudsters exploiting our immigration system,” the spokesperson said.
While the new offence comes into effect from Monday, selling sponsorship for fake jobs is already illegal under current legislation. However, the newspaper investigation found a “mushrooming economy” of middlemen charging exorbitant fees for illegal visa sponsorship, and hundreds of fake jobs being offered by criminal networks.Secret filming by the newspaper’s journalists revealed unregulated agents offering to help people obtain visas by presenting sponsorship certificates issued by Home Office approved companies.
“Over four months, ‘The Times’ went undercover to investigate the networks behind the schemes. We spoke to 26 agents and company representatives selling sponsorship and documented more than 250 examples of fake jobs being offered. The jobs were offered at businesses including hospitality, logistics, social care, IT, finance, marketing and graphic design,” the newspaper claims. The skilled worker visa scheme was introduced in 2020 under the then prime minister Boris Johnson led Conservative government and later expanded to plug shortages in the UK’s social care industry.
It allows migrant workers, including from India, to be sponsored by one of about 87,000 employers in “skilled” jobs, such as executive and management roles or jobs in shortage occupation category such as nursing. The route has since been tightened to raise minimum salaries for many jobs, restrict care workers and remove eligibility for more than 100 medium-skilled roles.