Thousands of people are reportedly paying up to £25,000 as part of a scam to create ‘fake lives’ in Ireland in order to gain access to the United Kingdom.
The scam was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 File on 4 documentary, Breaking into Britain, which found that thousands of migrants unable to gain access to the United Kingdom were availing of a scam to create fake lives in Ireland in order to get around immigration restrictions.
The documentary found that migrants from non-EEA (European Economic Area) countries were using fake documentation as proof of residency in a EU member state (Ireland) to apply for UK citizenship.
Immigration advisers, lawyers and accountants were all found to be involved in the scam and with many of those availing of it paying up to £25,000 for fake documentation, a detective from the Garda Immigration Bureau spoke of the “staggering profits” being made by those involved.
“The facilitator will quite often set up a company, of which you will either be an owner or a director,” Detective Superintendent Stephen Courage is heard to say in the documentary.
“They will also create a work history for you. They will create payslips, they will open bank accounts, and also pay nominal tax so when the immigration service receives an application to exercise EU treaty rights, they will look at the paperwork and on the face of it, it will appear that you have a life in Ireland.
“The people we are coming across in our investigations are often from a professional background, whether it be in law or accounting, these are white-collar criminals,” Courage added.
You can listen to Breaking Into Britain here.
