BBC investigation: Legal advisers helping migrants fake gay asylum claims in UK

Law firms and advisers are charging fees to help migrants to fabricate sexual orientation-based asylum claims in order to remain in the United Kingdom (UK), a BBC investigation has revealed.

In an undercover report, the BBC found that some legal advisers allegedly provide migrants whose visas are nearing expiration with fake cover stories and guide them on how to obtain fabricated evidence to support their claims.

The UK’s asylum process gives protection to people who cannot return to their home countries due to fear of being in danger, especially in countries where same-sex relationships are outlawed.

However, the BBC investigation found that the system is being systematically exploited by some legal advisers who help migrants submit false claims, particularly asylum applications based on sexual orientation.

BBC reporters posed as international students from Pakistan and Bangladesh whose visas were about to expire.

The investigation found that some legal advisers allegedly tutored migrants on how to present themselves as gay and obtain fabricated evidence to support their claims for asylum.

The report said one law firm charged up to £7,000 to make a fabricated asylum claim and promised that the chance of refusal by the Home Office was “very low”.

It said fake asylum seekers visited general practitioners (GPs) pretending to be depressed in order to get medical evidence to bolster their cases.

In one instance cited by the investigation, one asylum seeker lied about being HIV positive.

The BBC further said a lawyer told one undercover reporter that he had helped people pretend to be gay or atheists to successfully obtain asylum.

An undercover reporter who attended an asylum-related LGBT event in Beckton, East London, filmed some attendees admitting they were not gay.

The BBC reports that the UK prime minister’s spokesperson said the Home Office and Immigration Advice Authority are working to ensure “anyone potentially abusing our immigration system is held accountable.”

“Both the Home Office and Immigration Advice Authority are investigating the claims made by the BBC, both yesterday and today, to ensure anyone potentially abusing our immigration system is held accountable,” the spokesperson said.

“Any attempt to misuse protections designed to protect genuine victims from the devastation of domestic abuse is shameful and completely unacceptable.

“The home secretary has been clear that those trying to defraud the British people to remain in the UK will have their application refused and find themselves on a one-way flight out of Britain.”