Immigration consultants are advertising widespread skilled worker and care worker visas on Facebook groups, offering new lives in Britain amid an explosion in immigration figures.
Promising “easy” processes and visas for “all family members,” the groups are soliciting interest on public platforms like Facebook.
GB News understands that these immigration social media consultants take a fee from the would-be immigrants who apply.
The wide range of social media adverts targeting poorer countries comes as the government admitted record levels of net migration last year.
The adverts are promising “easy” processes and visas for “all family members”
PA/Facebook
The latest official estimates revealed that net migration in the year to June 2023 was 672,000.
Migration analysts have warned that these record applications undercut wages and that foreign workers are encouraged to bring wives and children here, exacerbating the housing crisis.
Karl Williams, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “Increasing evidence of rampant abuse on the health & care visa route is undermining the case for this already flawed aspect of our post-Brexit immigration system.
“The 350,000 health & care visas issued last year (an increase of 192,000 on 2022) accounted for over a quarter of all immigration visas issued in 2023. But in reality, almost 60% of health & care visas issued last year went to the dependents of workers, rather than workers themselves.
“And no wonder. Adverts posted on social media platforms show that this is one of the main selling points used by dodgy agencies drumming up business from prospective migrants.”
Williams added: “It’s not just migrants being scammed, but the British people.”
The adverts contain information about the benefits to life in Britain, such as “free” education, adding to the taxpayers’ burden.
They also refer to how applicants can bring across their families if approved.
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They are using Facebook to advertise skilled worker visas
Some of the consultants are offering five-year “skilled worker” visas, which qualify recipients for permanent residency.
Posts advertising these visas have received hundreds of “likes” and comments, with would-be migrants announcing that they are “interested” in the opportunities.
Many of the adverts contain UK-based phone numbers.
The health and social care visa system has come under significant criticism for its links to modern slavery and bonded labour.
The Migration Advisory Committee’s annual report recorded that “there were over 700 potential cases of modern slavery in the care sector in 2022 (though they use a less stringent definition compared to the Modern Slavery Act). This accounted for 18% of all potential victims raised through its helpline.”
It added that UK Visas and Immigration “have seen numerous examples of bonded labour linked to the adult social care sector […] One individual had paid £8,000 directly to the sponsor for rent upfront and another had paid £21,000 to their sponsor for the visa. There have been other cases where migrants have had to spend large sums of money, sometimes in excess of £25,000, to ‘agents’ who forge documentation so they can obtain a H&CW visa.”
The social care visa has also come under criticism as being a pathway into Britain for people who then leave the sector.
The MAC referred to a Border Force operation which assessed a care provider “who had had 498 visas granted since May 2022.”
Many of the adverts seen by GB News specifically advertise areas in south Asia
However, the Care Quality Commission “confirmed that this care provider had been dormant since September 2021 and was no longer providing any services.”
Many of the adverts seen by GB News specifically advertise areas in south Asia, such as Sylhet, Bangladesh’s fifth-largest city, and Punjab, a state in northern India.
One of the adverts notes that a Tuberculosis Test is required.
Tory MP Neil O'Brien said: "The social care visa is being abused on an industrial scale. We have had the home office's own advisor suggest a quarter are bogus. The fundamental problem is that if you punch a massive hole in attempts to make migration more high skill as the social care visa does, people will obviously exploit that."
The former minister added: "A whole industry of Social care visa scams has been created - that is a fundamental feature of the way it operates.
"We should pay carers properly, rather than rely on massive minimum wage migration to hold down wages.
"In the long term bringing in large numbers of minimum wage people will result in a net cost to taxpayers as they are likely to receive more in spending than they pay in tax.
"People are waking up to how this really works and the Office for Budget Responsibility are right to have highlighted how we should be wary of regarding all migration as a benefit to taxpayers."