The UK Border Agency removed over 40,000 immigration offenders in 2010, and they detected close to 6,000 forged travel or supporting documents in visa applications made in Pakistan alone. Organisations face on-the-spot penalty notices for employing illegal workers and fines of up to £10,000 per illegal worker. To avoid this, they must prove to the UK Border Agency that they carried out the correct pre-employment checks on staff. Whilst the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality 2006 Act makes employers liable to civil penalties for employing illegal migrant workers, it also allows employers to have an excuse against payment of a civil penalty for doing so. Employers can have the excuse by carrying out specific checks on the original documents of prospective employees. Employers will only have the excuse for employees with time-limited leave to be in the UK if they carry out repeat checks at least once every 12 months.
There have been numerous examples this year where organisations have either not checked or have been duped into employing illegal workers. Perhaps the most embarrassing was the detection of 2 Afghan nationals who were working in the UK illegally after being “employed” on a military base to act as Taliban fighters in military war games. Other examples are an Indian restaurant in Swansea which was fined £25,000 after it was caught employing 5 illegal workers and Kentucky Fried Chicken in Rugby were found to have 3 illegal workers after a raid by UK Border Agency Staff. Others have been detected in Ballycastle and County Antrim. A Southall firm was found to have 3 employees working illegally, all are Indian nationals. A 27-year-old man was arrested for entering the country illegally, while 2 men aged 25 and 34 were failed asylum seekers. A fourth man, believed to be a customer, was also arrested for immigration offences. 5 illegal workers were also caught in raids on businesses in Stamford. Officers visited the Saffron Lounge restaurant and 2 Bangladeshi men, 32 and 35, were identified as having illegally entered the UK and had no permission to work. Officers also visited The Lounge Nail Bar where they caught 3 Vietnamese nationals who were illegally working. Another 4 illegal workers have been caught during UK Border Agency raids on businesses in Nuneaton and Kenilworth. Costcutter were found to have 3 illegal workers – all were Indian men who had illegally entered the UK. When the UK Border Agency visited a Kenilworth Kebab House they arrested a 26 year old Indian man, who had illegally entered the UK. Another 2 illegal workers were caught at the Triple ‘A’ fish and chip shop and a further 2 were arrested during a large-scale immigration raid on a Scunthorpe business. At AMPM cash and carry, 2 Indian men were arrested for working illegally, one a suspected illegal entrant and the other had overstayed his visa.
A Market Harborough restaurant was presented with forged documents by two men from Bangladesh who were working illegally. One of the men detained was a 38-year-old failed asylum seeker and the other, a 19-year-old, who had overstayed his visa. Finally, a Bonnybridge restaurant had a Chinese man working illegally and a Falkirk takeaway were found to have 2 Pakistani men working illegally. All 3 men have no right to be in the UK, and were detained pending their removal from the country.
The message from the Border Agency across the whole of the UK is clear and Salma Raja, head of the UK Border Agency’s Ealing local immigration team emphasised the key issues and said: ‘Those who employ illegal workers are not only breaking the law, they’re also taking jobs from those who do have the right to work and undercutting legitimate businesses and traders. We’re happy to work with firms to help them understand what checks they need to do, but those who do break the law should know that we are out there looking for them, and they will be caught.’
Lastly, in a twist on the illegal workers issue, in August this year a grandmother who allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the country by falsely signing passport documents narrowly escaped a jail term, Lynette Timms, from Thornton Heath, signed 29 passport applications, mostly for people she did not know and who would have had no right to stay in this country. The court heard how Timms’ signature was used as a character reference in which she claimed to have known the applicants for up to five years.
For further information on this key issue for all organisations, click on the links below or contact Agenda for free and confidential advice.
http://www.agenda-security.co.uk/illegal-immigrants2.asp
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/preventingillegalworking/complyingwiththelaw/post280208/
