Law firms helping migrants to pose as gay to get asylum
Advisers charge thousands for fake cover stories and help obtaining fabricated evidence
Migrants whose visas have run out are being provided with fake cover stories and guided on how to obtain fabricated evidence such as letters, photographs and medical reports.
They then apply for asylum claiming to be gay, which they say would put them at risk of persecution if they were to return to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have the highest numbers of asylum claimants who originally came to Britain on visitor, student or work visas before switching to claim refugee protection to remain in the country.
Nearly 10,000 Pakistanis entered the country with temporary visitor, work or student visas before switching in 2024 to claim asylum in an attempt to secure permanent residency in the UK, according to Government data. They were followed by Indians and Bangladeshis.
The new disclosures, revealed by a BBC investigation, is likely to intensify demands for Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, to impose a visa ban on Pakistan over its failure to take back rejected asylum seekers.
Pakistan accounts for one in 10 of all asylum seekers but just 4% of those whose claims are rejected are returned to the country.
The Telegraph revealed on Monday how migrants were lying about their nationality to gain asylum. We disclosed how an Iraqi migrant falsely claimed to be a member of a stateless minority group in Kuwait to boost his chances of securing asylum in the UK.
In response to the BBC findings, the Home Office said: “Anyone found trying to exploit the system will face the full force of the law, including removal from the UK.”
The fake gay scam involved migrants whose student, work or tourist visas had expired. This group comprises 35% of all 100,000 asylum claims – and is on par with the number claiming protection after arriving on small boats across the Channel.
The BBC investigation found law firms were charging up to £7,000 to bring a fabricated asylum claim and promised that the chance of refusal by the Home Office was “very low”.
Fake asylum seekers visited GPs pretending to be depressed to get medical evidence to bolster their cases, with one even lying about being HIV positive.
One immigration adviser boasted that she had spent more than 17 years helping bring fake claims and said she could arrange for someone to pretend they’d had a gay sexual relationship with a client.
A BBC undercover reporter was told he could bring his wife over from Pakistan once he had been granted asylum in the UK and she could then make a fake claim pretending to be a lesbian.
A lawyer linked to another firm told an undercover reporter he had helped people pretend to be gay or an atheist to successfully obtain asylum. He offered to help with a fake claim for a fee of £1,500 and said it would cost a further £2,000-£3,000 to create evidence.
One adviser explained how she could help an undercover reporter posing as a prospective asylum seeker build a cover story including attending an LGBT club.
[…]
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, called for the advisers to be prosecuted and illegal migrants to be banned from claiming asylum.
The Telegraph: continue reading
See Related Article Below
Our gay asylum policy makes no sense
DAVID SHIPLEY
This morning, the BBC of all places, is reporting it has unearthed a ‘shadow industry of law firms and advisers’ which is ‘charging thousands of pounds to help migrants pretend to be gay’ in order to be granted asylum status.
[…]
These are sophisticated operations. Asylum seekers visit GPs ‘pretending to be depressed in order to get medical evidence’ to support their claim, and one even lied about being HIV positive. Lawyers offer to fabricate evidence, including letters from fake lovers, photos at gay events and supporting letters from LGBT organisations. There are even fake websites which post false claims that migrants are facing legal action in Bangladesh ‘because of their political or religious activism’. These are apparently hard for the Home Office to check because Bangladesh’s courts use a ‘primarily paper-based’ system. The BBC also attended an event for ‘genuine gay asylum seekers’ in East London hosted by ‘Worcester LGBT’. Despite around 175 supposed ‘genuine gay asylum seekers’ attending, BBC reporters were told by men there that ‘nobody is a gay here. Not even 1 per cent are gay. Not even 0.01 per cent are gay’
It seems the abuse is an open secret. Fake asylum seekers are evening joining Tory party groups. Samuel Hemsley, Vice Chair of LGBT Conservatives, tweeted this morning that ‘there absolutely is fraud’, which he has ‘seen first hand’, including ‘people trying to sign up and then ask for proof of membership to use in asylum applications’. According to Hemsley, one ‘even told me he was looking to join as his lawyer had told him to’.
Gay asylum policy is also an interesting example of how rapidly the system has become biased against reason, fairness and the interests of the British people. It was less than 20 years ago that Jacqui Smith, then the Labour Home Secretary, said that it was perfectly safe to deport gay and lesbian asylum-seekers to Iran, so long as they lived their lives ‘discreetly’, and that there was no ‘real risk’ of them being discovered, nor of ‘adverse action’ being taken against them. Such a statement now would be met with outrage and horror. We have built a culture in which saying ‘no’ to people, or expecting them to live without boundaries, is anathema.
The Home Office told the BBC that ‘anyone found trying to exploit the system will face the full force of the law, including removal from the UK.’ Strong words, but utterly fanciful. The problem with granting asylum on the basis of sexuality, or religion, or politics is that it’s inherently impossible to disprove.
[…]
Granting asylum on the basis of unfalsifiable beliefs is stupid, but in reality, the entire asylum system is an invitation to abuse. Once granted asylum these migrants can rely on the generosity of British taxpayers, with their average lifetime cost to us potentially running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The Spectator: continue reading
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