Immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh – both countries that ban same-sex relationships – are being charged thousands of pounds by immigration consultants to stay in the UK for pretending to be gay, an undercover media investigation has claimed.The BBC reported that its journalists revealed how migrants whose visas were about to expire were given fabricated cover stories and instructed on how to create false evidence. They can then apply for asylum on the grounds that they are gay and fear for their lives if returned to Pakistan or Bangladesh.“The UK’s asylum process provides protection to those who are unable to return to their home country because of the dangers they face, such as in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh where same-sex relationships are illegal,” the BBC report said, according to PTI.“These are typically people whose student, work or tourist visas have expired, rather than those who have just arrived in the country by small boats or via other illegal routes. This group currently accounts for 35% of all asylum applications and will exceed 100,000 by 2025,” it added.According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the highest number of such asylum applications in 2023 was from Pakistan, followed by Bangladesh. Nigeria, India and Uganda round out the top five.
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Revealing details of its operation, the BBC said it sent undercover reporters to pose as students from Pakistan and Bangladesh whose “visas” were about to expire, after gathering preliminary evidence to investigate immigration consultants’ willingness to help people make up false asylum claims.They found fake news websites, staging political protests and abusing the asylum system with fake medical conditions. Three avenues for such false claims are: People who face persecution because of their sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political opinions.Labor MP Jo White, a member of parliament’s home affairs select committee, called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor government to “crack down” on such law firms and consultants.White also urged the Home Office to stop issuing study visas to Pakistanis, as it did last month to people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, amid alleged widespread visa abuse.“It is absolutely necessary that the government cracks down on them,” White said. “I would hope that evidence like this would go directly to the police and the police would begin their operations and break it up.”Opposition Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp added: “The whole system is rotten. The asylum system must be overhauled so that only the tiny minority who face real personal persecution and have real evidence to back it up can access asylum. Illegal immigrants should be banned from seeking asylum.”
