Exposed: Pakistani migrants using £50k fake visa documents to scam way into Britain

Telegraph

a day ago

Migrants are scamming their way into Britain using forged visa documents bought from consultants boasting openly about weak border controls.
Pakistani migrants are paying up to £50,000 for visa applications, which the Home Office is waving through despite being littered with errors and falsehoods.
One application obtained by The Telegraph includes a job reference from a fake hospital that said staff would 'recommend her for any position she may to seeking. We wish her all the best in future'.
The Telegraph also posed as a migrant seeking a UK visa from the consultant who had drawn up these fake documents. He boasted of a 98 per cent chance of successful entry into the UK within three months.
Syed Kamran Haider, the chief executive of Mirpur Visa Consultant (MVC) in the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir, was found to be operating openly online, where he advertises loopholes in the UK asylum system, which experts described as 'easy to manipulate'.
The investigation raises further questions for Sir Keir Starmer, whose premiership has been partly defined by a growing migration crisis.
The Prime Minister came under further pressure this month over details of his 'one in, one out' migration, which will only see 50 people per week sent back.
While small boat crossings hit record highs, The Telegraph investigation found that migrants from Pakistan were also gaining backdoor entry into the UK.
There were 10,542 asylum applications filed last year by Pakistanis – more than from any other country – representing an 80 per cent increase from the year before, government data show.
But Pakistanis have never been among the top 10 nationalities arriving in the UK via small boats.
Harjap Bhangal, a UK-based immigration lawyer, said: 'They don't need to come on small boats because they come on visas. They are one of the biggest groups that come on visas, and don't go back.'
Mr Haider's MVC firm, identified by The Telegraph, is charging thousands of pounds to falsify their clients' documents, including fake CVs and bank statements, to use in their visa applications.
These documents are required as applicants must demonstrate they fit a number of eligibility criteria, including the ability to support themselves in the UK.
The Telegraph obtained falsified paperwork – a fake CV and letter attesting to employment history – that it understands was produced by MVC and submitted in a UK work visa application that was ultimately successful.
A fake letter supporting the migrant's application purported to be from 'Riaz International Hospital' in Mirpur. It 'certified' that the Pakistani individual had worked from March 1 2019 to May 5 2020 as a nursing care assistant in the hospital.
The letter had grammatical errors, including a line that read: 'During this period, her services were found to be satisfactory in caring out the job duties.'
One of the responsibilities stated was nonsensical: 'Responsible to take and record of vital signs in takes outputs empty drains.'
The Telegraph found that 'Riaz International Hospital' existed only for two years from 2012 to 2014, serving as a temporary location when the original Riaz Hospital Mirpur was undergoing renovations.
Dr Riaz Ahmed, the chief executive of the real Riaz Hospital Mirpur since it opened in 1978, said that the letter The Telegraph reviewed was a 'bogus certificate', as it lacked an official hospital seal and a legitimate signature.
He also confirmed that the letter listed an incorrect address and old phone numbers no longer in use by the hospital. Nobody picked up when The Telegraph called those numbers.
A false CV created by MVC for the same visa applicant also claims past employment at Riaz International Hospital, and describes a range of responsibilities for the purported job, including 'treat emergency injuries' and 'record patients' medical records and monitor vital signs'.
It lists educational certifications, all purportedly to be obtained in Mirpur, located in the disputed region of Kashmir – also where MVC is headquartered.
With these fake documents, that person was granted a skilled worker visa that allowed her to enter the UK in 2023, according to documents reviewed by The Telegraph. She is understood to have remained in Britain ever since.
In most instances, people claiming asylum cannot work in the UK while their cases are being decided – a process that can take more than a year, given a backlog of applications waiting to be reviewed.
But there is a loophole – those who first enter the UK on a work visa can retain their right to work while waiting for a decision from the Home Office on their asylum claims. The Home Office also processes visa applications.
Mr Bhangal said: 'If you claim asylum before that visa runs out, you can still work. The Home Office is a broken institution... They are not realising where the loopholes are [and] what is being done, what migrants are doing.'
MVC fees vary depending on whether the 'consultant' is providing fake documents for a student or work visa, and for which country. For instance, support for a UK visa starts at £32,700, while a work visa to Bulgaria is £9,150.
On top of that, there are extra fees for the consultant (£200), 'file-making' costs (£30) and a specific fee for creating fake bank statements (£2,615). Even an initial video call of a few minutes with the MVC director requires payment of about £15.
Mr Haider, boasting of his success rate, told a Telegraph reporter posing as a potential client: 'I will do everything, I will support. Five to seven lakh Pakistani rupees (£1,300 to £1,800) will be spent on creating a bank statement… The bank statement will be from Mirpur. It is no problem, and no one will ask you why [the statement] is from Mirpur.
'God forbid, if the visa isn't approved, the costs for the bank statement, visa and my fees are non-refundable.'
He also offered a more affordable option – a UK student visa application. 'In this way, a person can go for around 40 to 45 lakh Pakistani rupees (£10,500 to £12,000), and then find some way or solution after arriving there.'
Mr Haider features in a vast series of videos posted on YouTube and other social media sites, in which he gives a broad overview of various visa loopholes – how to enter France as a tourist, Belarus for blue-collar work, Canada for construction jobs, Greece for farm labour and Bulgaria for work without prior education.
'Good news for people who want to study or get a work permit in the UK!' he said in a video posted a month ago.
Mr Haider, seated behind a desk, then explains how people who cannot afford his high fees of £40,000 to support a UK work visa, or do not score well on the IELTS test – an international standardised test of English proficiency required for some visas – can instead sign up for a diploma in nursing and midwifery to obtain a student visa.
He said: 'The fee for this is £2,000 to £2,500. [The application] does not require IELTS… These people, if you go to the UK, can then convert it into a work permit. Jobs are available with a minimum wage of £23 per hour.'
Mr Haider does not give the full details in his videos – someone entering the UK on a student visa for a nursing diploma program could later be eligible to apply for a work visa, but there is no guarantee that it will be approved.
All of the videos end with a plug for his services: 'Those who want to apply, the contact numbers of our staff are provided below.'
After exhausting options within the UK to remain, including applying for asylum, some people then submit a second asylum application to the European Union, in order to extend their time in Britain.
Current rules require applicants to have 'genuine ties' to the EU – past residence or employment, or family already there. Those without such connections, however, can still submit what is essentially a fake application, which can buy them additional time to work in the UK while the claim is processed, noted Mr Bhangal.
'These visa 'consultants' are 'selling them a dream,' said Mr Bhangal.
He added: '[They are] selling a product essentially to people who don't want to come back [home]. They have found their market. [It's] quite a sophisticated scam.'
In May, Sir Keir announced that skilled workers will be required to have a degree to get a job in the UK under new laws as part of the Government's effort to reduce net migration.
However, Mr Bhangal said the UK has an 'easy system to manipulate' as the Home Office is 'broken'.
He said: 'The trend for Pakistanis is to get a visa and come over, then claim asylum – so the asylum claims come from students who don't go to university, or people who come on dodgy healthcare visas and then don't find work; and visitor visas, as a large number are people who come as families.
'The situation back home is just dire for these people, and they need to get out, [but] they don't want to run the risk of traipsing all over Europe.
'Literally, they've been promised the idea of – you sit on a plane, get off, get through immigration and then you can claim asylum.'
Pakistanis fleeing for Europe leave for a number of reasons – some are persecuted because of their religious beliefs, while others hope to find greater economic opportunity.
The real GDP per capita in Pakistan ranks among the lowest tier in the world, at around £3,970, according to the CIA World Factbook. In the UK, GDP per capita is more than ten times, at £40,000.
The Telegraph has contacted the Home Office and Mr Haider for comment.