A fraudulent network in the UK has defrauded foreign students of millions of pounds by providing fake documents for work visas.
An investigation by the BBC reveals that intermediaries acting as recruitment agents have engaged in this scam. They target students from various countries interested in working in the UK's care sector.
To apply for a work permit visa in the UK, students need to submit a sponsorship certificate provided by an employer. This certificate includes detailed information about the job, the candidate's details, title, salary, and other job-related information.
Students are not required to pay any money to obtain a sponsorship certificate. However, the fraudsters have charged each student up to £17,000 (about 2.67 million Taka) for these certificates. Later, when students attempted to apply for skilled worker visas, they discovered the documents were fake. As a result, the UK Home Office subsequently invalidated their papers.
Several documents related to this fraud have come into the BBC's possession. One such document shows that a person named Taimur Raja sold 141 visa-related documents for £1.2 million (about 18.85 crore Taka), most of which were fraudulent. Taimur Raja has denied the allegations against him, claiming he did nothing wrong and has refunded some money to the students.
Taimur Raja rented an office in the West Midlands region of the UK and employed several staff there. From this office, he set up the scam, promising dozens of students jobs in care homes and sponsorships. Many of these students lost all their savings due to the scam, though some who paid did manage to obtain genuine visas and jobs.
The BBC has spoken with 17 individuals who lost thousands of pounds trying to obtain work visas. Among them, three female students paid a total of £38,000 to different agents. Most of these victims are in their twenties. They were assured by the agents that their time in the UK would bring them fortune, but the reality was quite the opposite. They lost all their savings and are now worried about returning to their families.
One student, using the pseudonym Neela, told the BBC, "I am stuck here in the UK. If I go back now, all my family's savings will be wasted."
In 2022, the UK saw a record number of job openings in the care sector, with 165,000 positions available. The government increased recruitment to fill these vacancies and allowed international applications. This opportunity was exploited by the fraudulent network.
According to the rules, only registered institutions can sponsor job candidates for work permit visas, and candidates do not need to pay for sponsorship.
Nadia, a 21-year-old from India, came to the UK on a student visa in 2021 to complete a degree in computer science. After a year, she decided to look for a job instead of paying the annual £22,000 tuition fee.
A friend provided her with a phone number of an agent who promised to arrange documents for a job in a care home in exchange for £10,000. Nadia trusted the agent, who assured her that he would not ask for more money because she resembled his sister.
Nadia paid the agent £8,000 in advance and waited six months to receive the expected documents. The documents claimed she had secured a job at a care home in Walsall. However, when Nadia called the care home to inquire about her visa, they said they had not issued any sponsorship certificates and had no vacancies.
The agent blocked Nadia's phone number, and although some advised her to report the fraud to the police, Nadia told the BBC she was too frightened.
Another student, Neela from Birmingham, said her family believed investing in her education in the UK would make her more skilled and allow her to earn more than in India.
Neela, who had previously received £15,000 from her family for her student visa, went to a training organization in Wolverhampton to convert her student visa to a care worker visa. She said the staff there were very polite and provided clear evidence of their legitimacy through emails, letters, and copies of visas.
Neela paid £15,000 for the sponsorship certificate, only to realize later that it was fake when the UK Home Office canceled it. She had used family savings to pay for this, and now feels her life has been destroyed while the fraudsters continue to operate freely.
Nadia and other victims are desperately trying to stay legally in the UK but are now at risk of being sent back to their home countries.
The BBC has learned that Taimur Raja, a Pakistani national, lives in Wolverhampton and works in Birmingham. He is a senior figure in a visa network.
Taimur has been in contact with recruitment agencies in the West Midlands, promising to arrange jobs in care homes and related visa applications for their clients. The BBC has seen multiple sponsorship documents indicating that Taimur provided an agency with 141 applications, charging each applicant between £10,000 and £20,000. The total amount fraudulently obtained is £1.2 million. Taimur sent these documents in PDF format via WhatsApp to the agency, the BBC has confirmed.
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