According to a BBC undercover investigation, unregulated immigration advisors are allegedly encouraging people to make false claims of domestic abuse to secure their right to stay in the UK. Rights advocates say that this puts an even heavier burden on those experiencing intimate partner abuse and who already have an inherent fear of not being believed.
Unregulated immigration advisors are allegedly helping people make false claims of domestic abuse to secure their right to stay in the UK. That's according to a report released by the BBC this week (April 16).
A video report shows an undercover reporter speaking to a person who is presenting himself as an immigration advisor. The male reporter, who is posing as a Pakistani migrant, states that he wants to leave his British wife for his girlfriend, but his residence permit is tied to his spousal visa.
The immigration advisor suggests filing a case under the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, which allows certain people on partner visas to remain in the UK temporarily.
When the reporter says that his British partner does not physically abuse him, the person claiming to be an immigration advisor says they can file the case under "psychological domestic abuse." To further reassure him, the purported immigration advisor shows him a letter from the UK Home Office that one of his supposed clients received, saying that his case under the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession had been approved.
In a statement,...
According to a BBC undercover investigation, unregulated immigration advisors are allegedly encouraging people to make false claims of domestic abuse to secure their right to stay in the UK. Right...