Black market offers ‘wage-only’ visa sponsorships to migrants facing deportation, agency probe
There is a black market in the UK in fake sponsorship of skilled worker visas that allows migrants to stay in the country through fraud “only wages” jobs, according to an undercover investigation by The Times.
The portal said on Tuesday that its investigation had uncovered a network using the skilled worker visa system, introduced in 2020 to tackle labor shortages, which allows licensed UK companies to sponsor foreign workers through Home Office Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).
Under this scheme, agents allegedly take an applicant’s ID and issue a CoS before creating payroll and tax records. On paper, the migrant appears skilled, well-paid and, according to the Times, eligible for a skilled worker visa.
In fact, the newspaper writes that “only wages” the jobs do not provide any real work, forcing migrants to accept cash after the visa is granted. They have to pay bogus wages plus extra fees, sometimes hundreds of pounds a month, or risk losing sponsorship.
Fake work visas can reportedly cost up to £20,000 ($27,500) and are mainly used by people at risk of deportation or being banned from entry, as well as foreign students who want to stay after their visas expire. Agents earn commissions for brokering deals.
The Times said its four-month investigation, using undercover filming and interviews with dozens of visa agents, documented more than 250 fake job offers, mostly through social media. The full extent of the fraudulent scheme is unclear.
The Home Office said it would launch an urgent investigation into the fraud. “We are investigating this illegal activity and it will not be tolerated,” he told The Times.
The UK is under increasing pressure over migration, with government figures showing more than 41,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2025, the second highest annual total on record. Despite tighter asylum controls and a contribution-based settlement model, many Britons remain frustrated by what they see as uncontrolled immigration and weak border enforcement.
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The issue has eroded confidence in the government, with recent polls showing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s approval ratings plummeting – around three-quarters of Britons now view him unfavorably, one of the lowest ratings on record. It has also sparked growing public protests in recent months against soaring migration across the country, which organizers have described as an effort to challenge what they call a dysfunctional government system.
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