UK-EU reset live: Starmer insists post-Brexit deal will be ‘good for our borders' ahead of crunch summit
Sir Keir Starmer 's government has been urged to be 'bold in its offer to the EU ' in order to 'maximise benefits' from his reset plans, as MPs criticised his 'secretive' approach.
As the prime minister prepares to host the first UK-EU summit on Monday, where he hopes to make significant progress on a deal, a cross-party group of MPs warned that his efforts were being hampered by a 'perceived absence of a strategic vision'.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the lack of a 'compelling political narrative' had left those outside Westminster unclear about British policy and unconvinced of the 'strategic importance' of making the reset a success.
Urging the government to be bolder, committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry said: 'We should be clear about what it is that we want and act with a little less caution and a lot more confidence. If we do this, there is every reason to believe the EU will respond positively.'
Britons to whizz through EU passport queues, minister suggests
Mr Thomas-Symonds, who is in charge of Britain's post-Brexit reset with Brussels, has suggested Britons will be able to whizz through EU queues on holiday as part of the reset deal.
In a boost to travellers, the Europe minister confirmed he has been pushing his EU counterpart to allow UK arrivals in the bloc to use its passport lanes.
He stopped short of confirming it has been agreed, cautioning that 'nothing is agreed until everything is'.
But he told Sky News: 'We want British people who are going on holiday to be able to go and enjoy their holiday and not be stuck in queues.'
Sam Rkaina18 May 2025 09:10
Brexit status quo 'isn't working for British people', Europe minister says
The Brexit status quo 'isn't working for the British people', Sir Keir Starmer's Europe minister has said.
Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News the government is 'pushing everything to the limit and negotiating very hard' to reset Britain's trading relationship with Europe.
'That's exactly what the British people would expect of us,' Mr Thomas-Symonds said.
But, amid last-minute wrangling with the EU over thorny issues such as fishing and tuition fees, he warned that 'nobody can guarantee' a deal will get over the line.
He added: 'We want to emerge with a deal that we can say makes our borders more secure, is good for jobs and growth and is bringing people's household bills down.
'That is what is in our national interest, and that's what we'll continue to do over these final few hours.'
Sam Rkaina18 May 2025 09:02
Starmer will negotiate 'in the national interest', government insists
With Tory leader Kemi Badenoch expressing concern about the nature of the talks, claiming that 'whenever Labour negotiates Britain loses', a UK government spokesperson insisted that Sir Keir would 'negotiate in the national interest'.
The spokesperson said: 'No final agreement has been made. We are not providing a running commentary on our discussions with the EU; these are ongoing and cover a wide range of issues.
'We have been clear that we will always act in the national interest to secure the best outcomes for the UK.'
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 07:00
Any deal with EU not a 'one off', says Rachel Reeves
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that any deal secured on Monday would not be a 'one off' but a 'step towards' closer partnership with Europe in further areas.
In an interview on Friday, the chancellor insisted that the government would stick to its 'red lines' but suggested that an agreement on Monday could herald deeper cooperation with the EU.
'We think that because of the trust we built, we can get a better deal. The European Union have understood from the beginning those red lines,' Ms Reeves told The Guardian.
'I am ambitious for our future. This isn't a one-off. There will be things that we achieve, some concrete outcomes on Monday, but there will also be a step towards where we want to go next between our countries.
'And I see that as a journey, not that what happens on Monday is the end; there will be future areas where we can do more.'
18 May 2025 06:00
Starmer told to be more ambitious with EU reset to tackle Brexit 'suffering'
The Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee has urged Keir Starmer to be 'courageous' in resetting his relationship with Europe to tackle the 'suffering' caused by Brexit.
In an interview with The Independent, Dame Emily Thornberry said: 'We should be going further than the government currently seems to have the ambition for doing.'
She warned there was a 'compelling case... of the amount that the country is suffering as a result of having put trade barriers between Europe and Britain, (which) means that our growth has been severely compromised'.
To tackle the problem and tear down some of the barriers, such as the need to check goods coming into the country meet certain standards, she said ministers should be more relaxed about the issue.
'I would like us to be much more relaxed about goods having the same sort of regulation… if we just agree the same kind of standards, not just for food, but generally, I think that would make life much easier.'
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Starmer told to be more ambitious with EU reset to tackle 'suffering' of Brexit
Labour prime minister, set for 11th-hour Brexit reset talks with Macron and Ursula von der Leyen to secure crucial deal, faces calls to be more ambitious
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 05:00
Starmer accused of shutting foreign press out of Monday's summit
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of shutting European news outlets out of his much-hyped EU-UK summit on Monday.
With the prime minister set to unveil his post-Brexit reset plans alongside Brussels leaders, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) has said 'almost every European news outlet' with a foreign correspondent in London has been denied access to the summit.
In a letter sent to Downing Street the FPA, which represents foreign journalists based in the UK, said: 'Sir Keir Starmer, you state that you want a reset with the EU. You organise a summit between the UK and the EU to restart the relationship.
'Yet you deny accreditation to almost every European news outlet who has a foreign correspondent in London, leaving out the biggest news agencies, the most important papers, the most trusted broadcasters.'
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 04:00
Starmer vows closer EU ties will be good for jobs and living standards
Sir Keir Starmer has said that closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK's jobs, bills and borders ahead of a London summit on Monday at which he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The prime minister said: 'In this time of great uncertainty and volatility, the UK will not respond by turning inwards but by proudly taking our place on the world stage – strengthening our alliances and closing deals in the interests of British people.
'First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that's jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising. More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
'Tomorrow, we take another step forwards, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union. It will be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders.
'That's what the British people voted for last year, and it's what my government will deliver.'
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 03:00
Starmer gives new hope for EU youth mobility scheme
Sir Keir Starmer has defended his planned youth mobility scheme with the EU, insisting it does not cross Labour's red line on freedom of movement and will be good for 'working people'.
Ahead of its announcement at the UK-EU summit in London on Monday, he said a youth mobility deal is 'not freedom of movement'.
The deal, a key part of the prime minister's post-Brexit reset of relations with Brussels – as reported by The Independent on Wednesday – will be a 'really significant moment', Sir Keir added.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Starmer gives new hope for EU youth mobility scheme ahead of Brexit reset
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested youth mobility would not break Labour's red lines, ahead of a UK-EU summit in London on Monday
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 02:00
What have been sticking points in talks with EU?
In a last-minute row in the talks with the EU, it was reported on Friday that EU member states were demanding that EU students should pay lower British tuition fee rates for universities, which could cost the UK an estimated £1bn.
French president Emmanuel Macron was also leading a charge for demands that EU fishermen can fish in British waters as part of a deal to allow trade barriers to be removed.
Added to that, there were criticisms that there is a lack of ambition in a proposed youth mobility scheme for 18 to 30-year-olds, with claims the UK cap on the number of people who could come here are too low for the liking of EU member states.
The youth mobility scheme was reported by The Independent on Wednesday to be a key part of Sir Keir's reset plans, with a senior government source saying the strategy 'driven' by the PM would anger 'the two extremities' of the Brexit debate but 'most will see it as a good deal'.
Andy Gregory18 May 2025 01:30
Watch: Starmer meets von der Leyen in Albania in 11th hour Brexit reset talks
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How feared drug cartels including Sinaloa and MS-13 are now operating INSIDE Europe with gangsters setting up meth labs in soft-touch EU to avoid growing US pressure in Latin America
France 's Minister of Justice courted controversy last month when he declared that no corner of the country was safe from the scourge of drug dealing. Speaking to French podcast LEGEND, Gérald Darmanin said even the 'smallest rural town' in France is now blighted by the illicit drugs trade. 'Drugs have always existed, but today we can clearly see that in the smallest rural town, they know about cocaine, cannabis. 'Beforehand, drugs were simply in big towns [and cities] or the metro... it has become widespread, metastasised,' he added. Many dismissed the statement, in which he went on to rail against escalating violence and call for law enforcement crackdowns, as little more than political rhetoric laying the groundwork for a widely anticipated presidential campaign ahead of 2027. Two weeks later, authorities announced the bust of a luxury villa-turned methamphetamine manufacturing facility in the sleepy countryside commune of Le Val in southeastern France. Suddenly, Darmanin's warning didn't seem so alarmist. The secret lab was later found to be the first confirmed operation of Mexico's infamous Sinaloa cartel on French soil, raising fears that one of the world's biggest and most dangerous criminal organisations is looking to expand its operations into Europe. Police claimed the lab was set up by a group of Mexicans in 2023 who arrived in France and began renting the villa. It transpired they had been commissioned by the cartel to build a meth production facility, recruit and train people in France to run it, before moving elsewhere. That terrifying discovery came less than three months after Spanish police arrested 27 members of MS-13 - the Los Angeles-based gang formed by immigrants from El Salvador - that US President Donald Trump has designated a terrorist organisation. MS-13 representatives were reportedly seeking to rapidly expand their operations in Spain and had planned to carry out a contract killing. The shocking busts validate a 2022 report in which Europol claimed that its intelligence suggested Mexican cartels were dramatically scaling up their operations in Europe amid an increase in seizures of cocaine and methamphetamines. Europe's illicit drug market is now booming, worth at least €31 billion (£26 billion) according to a 2024 report by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in the EU behind cannabis and the second largest illicit drug market by revenue generated, accounting for roughly one third of revenues. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures suggest that the UK & Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain rank in the top five countries across Europe where cocaine use is most prevalent, with France, Italy and Spain also topping the charts for cannabis consumption. The majority of narcotics bought and sold in Europe, particularly cocaine, originates from Latin America, primarily Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Cartels in these countries, as well as the likes of Brazil's PCC criminal organisation, leverage their formidable network of contacts with criminal enterprises and crime families across Africa and Europe to ensure their product makes it to consumers in the UK and on the continent. Some of the most notorious European groups involved in the trafficking include Italy's 'Ndragheta and Camorra crime families, Grupa Amerika and the Tito and Dino cartel in the Balkans, and the Kinahan clan and ' The Family ' in Ireland, and the Dutch-Moroccan 'Mocro Maffia'. Despite Mexico's reputation as a hub for some of the world's most feared and well-established drug trafficking operations, cartels here have traditionally favoured the US market over Europe. Their proximity and penetration into the American market meant Mexican cartels have long 'taken charge of the buying, trafficking and sale (of cocaine and other narcotics) in the United States', according to Rafael Guarin, a former presidential security adviser in Colombia. But the return of Donald Trump to the White House has seen a raft of measures designed to target cartel activity and limit the flow of fentanyl, among other drugs, across the border. Trump has pressured Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum into getting serious on tackling the cartel's outsized influence in her nation, offering to lend US military aid and increase intelligence sharing between Mexican authorities and American security services. This, coupled with the higher street value of cocaine and other drugs in Europe versus North America, may be forcing the likes of the Sinaloa cartel, MS-13 and their rivals to make efforts to diversify. Investigators inspect packages in a container in the port of Antwerp Federal agents seize submarine off Puerto Rico's Caribbean Sea coast carrying a record 2,500 kilos of cocaine Though the Sinaloa cartel will face the challenge of establishing its own criminal network in Europe if it hopes to muscle in on the continental market, the methods of transporting huge quantities of drugs across the Atlantic are already tried and tested. Hundreds of tonnes of narcotics enter Europe every year via gigantic shipping containers. Corrupt officials and cartel plants in place at both departure and receiving ports hide the drugs inside the containers and retrieve them at the other end. In the departure port, dock workers identify a container going to a port of interest, break into it, and stash the drugs among legitimate goods before sending its ID number to workers at the other end. At the receiving port, dockers make sure the dirty container is put in a specific spot where it is easy to access so it can be opened once again, the drugs removed and smuggled out of the port, and any security tags replaced with forgeries before it passes customs. Where smugglers cannot persuade the dockers to aid them, they sometimes send an empty container into the port with some of their men inside, who then break out and retrieve the stash in a method known as Trojan Horse. The Netherlands and Belgium have long served as the primary entry points for drug traffickers shuttling cocaine into Europe, particularly via port cities like Rotterdam and Antwerp. The latter last year topped the list of European cities where cocaine consumption is at its most voracious, with a March 2024 report by EUDA and SCORE group - a Europe-wide sewage analysis network - finding that 1,721 milligrams of cocaine were detected per 1,000 people per day in the port city. The Spanish region of Galicia is also renowned as one of the key gateways for drugs into Europe. Its ports were among the first to receive regular shipments from South American cartels as early as the 1970s and 1980s. More recently, cartels and criminal organisations have turned to yet more complex methods to ensure their product makes it into the hands of gleeful Europeans. To avoid seizures at ports, cargo ships are sometimes approached at sea by cartel fast boats. Either with money or force, the crew are persuaded to take the drugs on board before continuing their journey across the ocean. Before they reach land on the other end, more fast boats are dispatched to retrieve the drugs, meaning the cargo ship enters port as clean as when it departed. The cartels are so well funded that some have their own submarines designed to carry the maximum amount of weight possible while being operated by a crew of just three. Authorities estimate that each vessel costs around $1million (£750,000) to make and are painted sea blue, meaning they can leak just beneath the waves and surface under cover of night for their crew to emerge. 'Narco submarines are being built in rivers and mangroves. That's why, for example, the Amazon river in Brazil, is perfect. As soon as you open Google Maps, you realise it's a labyrinth of islets and mangroves and tributaries', Javier Romero, a local journalist, told the Wall Street Journal. 'You can hide a shipyard, then you can build it, put it into the water, and with the cover of darkness you launch it into the night.' Once the product arrives on the eastern side of the Atlantic, drug cartels and their European associates take advantage of vulnerable child migrants, using them as foot soldiers and mules to distribute their haul. Younger migrants, particularly those unaccompanied by older family members, are seen as ideal targets for recruitment. These children and young adults are typically in a precarious position - often with no means to support themselves and no legal status - and are therefore desperate for cash while their anonymity and perceived innocence make them less susceptible to detection by law enforcement. North African children, particularly Moroccans and Algerians, are thought to be those most at risk, with a recent EU police force investigation cited by the Guardian declaring: 'Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France presented several concrete cases of the exploitation of hundreds of north African minors, recruited by drug trafficking networks to sell narcotics.' European police sources said the use of child drug mules was being conducted 'on an industrial scale'.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Key US-China trade talks set for Monday in London
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Top U.S. and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers that has widened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains. At a still-undisclosed venue in London, the two sides will try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva that had briefly lowered the temperature between Washington and Beijing and fostered relief among investors battered for months by U.S. President Donald Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January. "The next round of trade talks between the U.S. and China will be held in the UK on Monday," a UK government spokesperson said on Sunday. "We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks." Gathering there will be a U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and a Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng. The second-round of meetings comes four days after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone, their first direct interaction since Trump's January 20 inauguration. During the more than one-hour-long call, Xi told Trump to back down from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary. But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in London. The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the U.S. of rare earths minerals and magnets. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. That had become a particular pain point for the U.S. in the weeks after the two sides had struck a preliminary rapprochement in talks held in Switzerland. There, both had agreed to reduce steep import taxes on each other's goods that had had the effect of erecting a trade embargo between the world's No. 1 and 2 economies, but U.S. officials in recent weeks accused China of slow-walking on its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments. "We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures' on Sunday. "The administration has been monitoring China's compliance with the deal, and we hope that this will move forward to have more comprehensive trade talks." The inclusion at the London talks of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the U.S., is one indication of how central the issue has become for both sides. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks, at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump's inauguration. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and U.S. indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 Index (.SPX), opens new tab, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18% after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2% below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the U.S.-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and U.S. complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. While the UK government will provide a venue for Monday's discussions, it will not be party to them but will have separate talks later in the week with the Chinese delegation.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Undercover Mail investigation exposes how crooked businesses are pocketing tens of thousands of pounds by illegally using skilled worker visas to get cheap labour for barbers, convenience stores and warehouses
Corrupt immigration advisers are helping illegal workers dupe the Home Office in a cash for visas scam, a Mail investigation has found. They are charging up to £22,000 per person to provide 'skilled' jobs in the UK for under-qualified foreign workers. It comes amid concern skilled worker visa routes could be hiding an immigration scandal 'worse than the small boats crisis'. Critics claim it could render Sir Keir Starmer 's immigration crackdown pointless after he made new restrictions on skilled visas a major tool in ending the economy's reliance on cheap overseas labour. The ruse has proved so lucrative that many companies have started up just to profit from hiring foreign staff – then shut down after a year, having extorted migrants and exploited them for cheap labour. The scam involves businesses telling the Home Office they can't find the right people in the UK and therefore need special 'sponsorship' licences to recruit workers from abroad. Immigration advisers then coach immigrants how to lie to officials, overstating their levels of education and experience to secure the visa. One adviser – a partner in a government-regulated advice firm – was secretly filmed admitting taking hefty bungs to teach foreigners how to fraudulently apply. Leicester-based Joe Estibeiro, the managing partner of an immigration advice firm, told the Mail's undercover reporter how he: Tricks the Home Office into believing employers need a certificate of sponsorship to take on overseas workers. Organises firms to advertise the positions in the UK. Helps employ immigrant workers who will officially earn about £3,000 a month to meet minimum salary requirements for the visas – but in reality they will receive only about £900 a month as they will have to hand the rest back to their boss. Secures the visas for applicants with little or only high school education in their home countries. Mr Estibeiro even claimed the Government didn't care if companies bring in unqualified staff on skilled worker visas, insisting: 'The Home Office is just interested in the money.' The foreign staff he helps recruit have to pay illegal work finder fees of between £19,000 to £22,000 to their new employer for the job and visa, with Mr Estibeiro pocketing a large commission. They then have to work 60 hours a week and, in real terms, will earn far below the minimum wage, in some cases with a take-home pay of less than £4 an hour. Mr Estibeiro, managing partner of immigration advisers Flyover International, said he works with businesses in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton and Peterborough. Incredibly, his Leicester headquarters overlooks the bureau of a Home Office affiliate where UK visa applications are processed. A long-serving recruiter for a small Hertfordshire domiciliary care company said there has been widespread abuse in the overseas recruitment of supposedly skilled workers. 'It's all gone absolutely mad,' she said. 'I don't understand how so many people are getting into this country without any checks. The situation is making the small boats crisis seem like a minor problem.' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'These so-called immigration advisers and immigration lawyers appear very often to arrange immigration fraud. These people need to be identified.' Last night, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: 'We have immediately suspended this firm's sponsorship licence. 'Urgent investigations continue and if the allegations are true, they risk having their sponsor licence revoked and sponsored workers complicit in abuse could face their visas being cancelled.' The skilled worker visa scheme was introduced in December 2020 and in the first three years alone more than 931,000 visas were issued – far outpacing Home Office predictions of 360,000 for this period, according to the National Audit Office. Flyover International is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, but Mr Estibeiro is not a registered adviser. The firm specialises in international student recruitment. The firm is owned by another man who is understood to be investigating and said that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work in the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'. The Immigration Advice Authority said: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Dame Angela added: 'Since taking office there have been 40 per cent fewer visa applications, we have removed 24,000 people with no right to be here and arrests from illegal working raids are up 42 per cent.' Q&A How do UK companies hire overseas workers? Employers usually need a sponsor licence from the Home Office. This allows the firm to issue certificates of sponsorship for eligible overseas employees, which cost £525 per worker, to be paid to the Home Office. Employees use the certificates to obtain a UK skilled worker visa. Can firms or UK recruiters charge workers for sponsorship or jobs? No. Businesses are responsible for paying the sponsor licence fee and any associated administrative costs. The Home Office can revoke licences of businesses they find have recouped, or attempted to recoup, any part of the sponsor licence fee or associated administrative costs, by any means. It is also illegal for UK-based recruitment agencies to impose fees on individuals for the promise of securing employment opportunities. Is there a minimum salary for staff on skilled visas? Yes, though this varies depending on the role. For all routes, licensed businesses must ensure the role they are sponsoring the worker for complies with both the national minimum wage and the working time regulations. What are immigration legal advisers? Depending on their level, advisers can help with visa applications, obtaining leave to remain, nationality and citizenship and, at the highest level, represent clients at immigration tribunals. Advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) which is tasked with ensuring they are competent and act in their clients' best interests. What rules do they have to follow? The OISC Code of Standards says immigration legal advisers 'must not knowingly or recklessly allow clients, the Commissioner, the Home Office, the courts and tribunals and/or third-party agencies to be misled', and 'not abuse any judicial and/or immigration process.' Migration fixer's brazen promise to undercover reporter posing as Indian student By Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for The Daily Mail Tightening restrictions on skilled worker visas was a centrepiece of Sir Keir Starmer's much-vaunted crackdown on spiralling immigration. The Prime Minister has promised that new rules – demanding that applicants for the permits must be graduates – would help to 'lower net migration', provide a higher-calibre workforce and stop the UK becoming an 'island of strangers'. But a Mail investigation can reveal that managers of immigration advice firms are already using tricks that could render many of the planned changes pointless. During an extraordinary hour-long meeting, Joe Estibeiro, managing partner of the immigration adviser Flyover International, detailed to our undercover reporter how he makes a mockery of government rules despite his firm being officially 'approved by the Home Office'. Skilled worker visas were introduced in December 2020 to mitigate the impacts of Brexit on the labour market and supposedly attract high-quality employees to the UK. Businesses licensed by the Home Office can pay a £574 fee to the department to issue certificates of sponsorship for foreign workers seeking to come to Britain using the visas. Employers must ensure that immigration laws are properly upheld, including a minimum salary depending on the job. Bosses and employment agencies also cannot charge a fee to a work-seeker for finding them a job or pass on visa charges or other administrative costs to the migrant. But from the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee. From the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro (pictured) told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee He told our reporter, who was posing as an Indian student wanting to stay in the UK after his study visa expires, that he could arrange a job for him shelf-stacking and running the till at convenience stores in either Peterborough or Northampton. The opportunity would cost the reporter £19,000, plus the annual health surcharge. There was also the chance to work in a role moving stock at a drinks warehouse in Yorkshire, but this was more expensive because the boss had got a 'bit greedy' after recently managing to hire some Pakistani staff, who he claimed had paid the warehouse boss £22,000 to secure similar roles, Mr Estibeiro explained. Most of the illegal fee goes to the employer, but Mr Estibeiro said he took 'a little bit of commission' of £1,500. 'So basically you pay me and then I pay the employer,' he said. 'We will handle everything. So that's all-inclusive. So including the visa – I'll do all the paperwork.' The initial £5,000 deposit to start the process could be paid by bank transfer, but not to his company otherwise the foreign worker might reveal he was charged for a job. 'We can't take it on Flyover. I'll give either my personal account [or] I'll give somebody else's, like one of my clients' personal accounts. 'See, there can't be a trail of it. Can't be a paper trail. 'That's why even when I am sponsoring someone, I will use somebody else to do it.' Further payments would need to be cash, he added. Mr Estibeiro told the reporter that for both jobs he would on paper receive an annual salary of £33,000, most of which he would have to repay to his new boss. 'Basically, because when we get a COS [certificate of sponsorship,] we have to show £33,000 per annum,' he said. Tax on this official salary would be deducted and paid to HMRC as PAYE and National Insurance, so it all appeared official. 'Everything is paid… he's gonna get a pension. He's going to get proper payslip.' After these deductions, this would mean the reporter would receive about £2,750 monthly paid into his account for the convenience store job, but he would have to hand all but £900 back. 'The owner will tell him that, OK, put it in this account, or, you know, withdraw cash and give it.' The worker would also receive accommodation – probably a shared room above the shop – and food from the store owners. In return he would have to work ten hours a day, six days a week in the shop. In real terms this meant he would almost certainly be earning under the minimum wage. But Mr Estibeiro said: 'Once you get your visa… then you're on the route to permanent residency.' Sponsored migrants were also allowed to bring spouses and partners to the UK, he said. 'Within a month, go to India, get married, bring her back over here and then she can apply [for sponsorship to work].' Mr Estibeiro said he charged £1,750 for arranging the sponsorship licence and recruiting staff for firms. His services included providing a 'good justification' to show the licence was required to ensure the application was approved. But he explained there were ways to trick the Home Office into falsely believing the company was unable to recruit staff for the required role from the UK. 'What I do with my client, one month before, two months before, we start advertising on Indeed and all those job sites. 'We'll get candidates for interview. So, the worst candidates, we will record a conversation. The good ones we'll say, let's not record it. 'So then, if the Home Office does an inquiry as to why, you say I interviewed seven candidates, and if they say we need a proof, you have the proof.' He said once the worker was in place with a visa there would be no further checks from the Home Office to make sure he really was a specialist. 'They want people to come over here, because what is there in UK apart from immigration? How does UK make their money? Immigration.' Despite it being called a skilled worker visa, he said no specialist skill was required to get a certificate of sponsorship. Chuckling, Mr Estibeiro described how when he had his hair cut at a barber shop he had arranged a sponsorship licence for it was a 'disaster', apparently because the staff were actually trainees. And he explained how he had hired an overseas worker with only a high school education by claiming she was a 'senior web developer'. They tricked the Home Office by telling the worker to enrol in a short web course costing around £200 in India so the worker knew what to say when interviewed by UK immigration officials. Laughing, he said the worker was 'not a web developer', had completed only high school education and hadn't obtained a degree. He said things were even easier for migrants already in Britain hoping to switch from expiring education visas to skilled worker visas. 'The good thing is, in UK right now, Home Office is not giving interview. So once you put an application, once you get it, that's it. They don't ask you for what… That's the employer's responsibility. The Home Office is just interested in the money you're getting.' He described how his phone rings 'non-stop' from 7am until midnight. The high volume of applicants meant sponsorship licences for skilled workers have become so popular in recent years that 'everybody' was opening businesses just to make money out of the scheme – including himself. He said he had a restaurant which he opened 'only for immigration purpose'. 'So, you know, we'll get a sponsor licence. 'We'll sponsor, get their money and then tell one of them that, OK, you take over the business, sell the business to him. 'In a year, if we can make like, £30,000, £40,000. Why not?' 'This is how everybody got into this business of sponsor licence. The business was very good in 2024. A lot of people made a lot of money.' He even told a second undercover reporter at the meeting – who was posing as the Indian student's UK-based cousin – that he could organise a sponsorship licence for his fitness business so he could also charge overseas workers £20,000 for visas and jobs. Flyover International is based in a large centre a short drive from Mr Estibeiro's £300,000 four- bedroom semi-detached home in a smart suburb on the outskirts of the city. As the reporters left, he pointed across the concourse to an office of an official partner of the Home Office's UK Visas and Immigration section, where applicants to stay in the UK provide their biometrics and complete visa applications. The Home Office has launched an urgent investigation and suspended Flyover International's sponsorship licence. In the last six months of 2024, the Home Office revoked and suspended the highest total of skilled worker sponsor licences since records began in 2012. An Immigration Advice Authority spokesman told the Mail: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Flyover International is owned by another man who is understood to be taking the matter seriously and investigating and says that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'.
