Gujarati careworkers face destitution and deportation in Britain after being scammed –
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LONDON: Thousands of Indians who came to the UK on care worker visas are in destitute condition, with some facing deportation, after finding the company they were meant to be working for does not exist.
The National Council of Gujarati Organisations (UK), or NCGO, is representing five cases but says there are thousands more with many too scared to come forward.
It says these migrants paid huge fees to agents in India to find the care company that sponsored their visa does not exist or has no work. It has requested a meeting with UK home secretary James Cleverly.
Kanti Nagda, adviser to NCGO, said: “A number of them are Gujaratis. We are getting lots of complaints that they come here and there is no work. They go, sit in the office, wait for the employer to arrive. The employers are using serviced office desks so they hardly are there, and when they do turn up they say: ‘We will let you know’. And they never get a response. They are left with no jobs and no money and are crying in front of us. Someare getting deportation notices. Around a month ago people started coming to us and we realised this is a grave problem. These people have not committed any crime and are being deported.”
The NCGO estimates around 2,500 Indians, of which 1,300 are Gujarati, are affected.
Those who have received deportation notices have been told if they can find a job in a similar field with a new employer who holds a licence in 60 days, they can stay. But Nagda said hardly any managed this as “there aren’t that many jobs”.
The five from Gujarat are men and women, aged 22 and 40, who came in the last six months to work in the care system and ended up with bogus employers who don’t have work — in London, Oxford and Bristol. They paid agents in Gujarat from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 18 lakh to get the work permit. Two of the five have received deportation notices as their sponsors have been stripped of their licences by the home office.
“Their families have complained to the agents in India and they say, ‘We promised to send you to the UK, you are in the UK’,” Nagda said.
They are borrowing money from friends and family to survive. If they take a job in another field, it would be illegal and they cannot claim state benefits, he said.
Indians are the largest cohort coming to the UK on care visas. A report by the independent chief inspector of borders published in March exposed how 275 certificates of sponsorship were granted to a care home which did not exist and 1,234 certificates were granted to a company that only had four employees.
The National Council of Gujarati Organisations (UK), or NCGO, is representing five cases but says there are thousands more with many too scared to come forward.
It says these migrants paid huge fees to agents in India to find the care company that sponsored their visa does not exist or has no work. It has requested a meeting with UK home secretary James Cleverly.
Kanti Nagda, adviser to NCGO, said: “A number of them are Gujaratis. We are getting lots of complaints that they come here and there is no work. They go, sit in the office, wait for the employer to arrive. The employers are using serviced office desks so they hardly are there, and when they do turn up they say: ‘We will let you know’. And they never get a response. They are left with no jobs and no money and are crying in front of us. Someare getting deportation notices. Around a month ago people started coming to us and we realised this is a grave problem. These people have not committed any crime and are being deported.”
The NCGO estimates around 2,500 Indians, of which 1,300 are Gujarati, are affected.
Those who have received deportation notices have been told if they can find a job in a similar field with a new employer who holds a licence in 60 days, they can stay. But Nagda said hardly any managed this as “there aren’t that many jobs”.
The five from Gujarat are men and women, aged 22 and 40, who came in the last six months to work in the care system and ended up with bogus employers who don’t have work — in London, Oxford and Bristol. They paid agents in Gujarat from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 18 lakh to get the work permit. Two of the five have received deportation notices as their sponsors have been stripped of their licences by the home office.
“Their families have complained to the agents in India and they say, ‘We promised to send you to the UK, you are in the UK’,” Nagda said.
They are borrowing money from friends and family to survive. If they take a job in another field, it would be illegal and they cannot claim state benefits, he said.
Indians are the largest cohort coming to the UK on care visas. A report by the independent chief inspector of borders published in March exposed how 275 certificates of sponsorship were granted to a care home which did not exist and 1,234 certificates were granted to a company that only had four employees.
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