Sham Marriages | UK Border Force | Episode 3 | FD Real Show

[Music] 25 000 men and women work for the uk border agency at home and abroad their job is to seek out the law breakers and impostors who don't have a right to be here they are the uk border force [Music] tonight the man at heathrow who wants to see his husband you met your partner in october 2007 in london 2007. how did you do that if you weren't in the country [Music] the restaurant in stoke with a secret door gives a wall of push and we've got a hidden bedroom and wedding bells in glasgow are silent when a man is arrested on his big day [Music] the uk attracts a constant stream of overseas visitors many come looking for work and a better life some people try to beat the system to stay in the country longer than they should one method is to exploit the entitlements that come with marrying a british citizen today in birmingham chief immigration officer kevin jolly and immigration officer tina ulligan are on their way to a registry office they're about to arrest a jamaican man on his wedding day he's been an overstayer since 2001. he did ask for approval for the marriage but was informed at that time that he was not lawfully in the country he hasn't received a letter in the letter it's absolutely clear that he should return to jamaica and obtain a correct visa and he hasn't done it when the man contacted the home office seeking permission to marry he revealed himself as an illegal immigrant it's been eight years since his visa ran out now he lives with a british woman her three children and their six-month-old baby obviously his intention is to having obtained the marriage to a british and submit some form of application um so he doesn't have to go back to jamaica but this is unfair to all the other people who do go back to their countries do request visas do get visas pay the fee and then return lawfully although the groom is in the country illegally his relationship is genuine the home office granted his british wife approval to marry but explained he still needed to legalize his immigration status or he would face arrest that's him that's him he hasn't gone back and thanks to his application the team know exactly when and where to find him do you want to come with us sir if you could just come over to the vehicle with me please you've received your certificate of approval for marriage but with that uh certificate of approval you was given a letter stating that it wasn't leave to remain you understand you can now be arrested under schedule two of the immigration act so you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention one question something which you later rely in court anything you do so may be given in evidence if you come with us now we'll explain everything okay i understand it's your wedding day but we need to have a chat so if you get in the back for me please watch your head officer jolly has to break the news to the guests that there'll be no wedding day i'm very sorry to cause this problem but unfortunately uh the gentleman needs to be spoken to about his immigration status into the immigration officers to say everything is in order no it hasn't no she was obviously stunned here she is turning up expecting her friend to be married a particularly joyous occasion and it's all gone wrong you were sent a letter saying that because you was being granted the certificate doesn't automatically give you leave to remain in the uk why why are you taking me no i don't i don't i don't understand because you're now under arrest under schedule two which means that you could be removed from the uk they're written to me saying that they receive my application for the certificate of marriage that's all yeah you haven't made any further applications to to extend your stay and because you've already overstayed it makes it harder for you to get the application now you haven't been granted any further leave so you're still an overstayer which means you're not legally present in the uk the home office grant me the permission to get married i've been through that process yeah because your fiance is a british citizen we can't stop a british citizen choosing who she marries but what we need to do is make sure that as the groom you've got the right leaves and at the moment you haven't got that that doesn't make sense to me because i send for application yeah you could have come to me there and then and and find me when the application was sent out the certificate of approval there was a letter attached to that stating that you are liable for detention and removal and i have a copy of that on here listen nothing's set in stone at the moment let's go back and we'll have a chat okay you have to make sure your status in the uk is lawful it's your responsibility and in the end when circumstances like these occur it's your responsibility it's nobody else's fault it's yours it doesn't look good for the groom he'll have to convince officers jolly and uh that he's made every effort to sort out his immigration status otherwise instead of going home to his fiancee and children he could be detained and sent back to jamaica [Music] coming up the enforcement team test a student on his five years of studies and wedding day blues in glasgow just one word with my brother i believe yeah what i did wrong you tell me first [Music] in stoke on trent an enforcement team are getting ready to go out on a raid they're targeting a business they believe is employing illegal workers okay ladies and gentlemen welcome to this afternoon's jobs the visit will take place uh at uh a superb chinese takeaway just down the road called who fook the gentleman that's uh said to be there he entered the uk some time ago has applied for three extensions to a student visa all of which have been granted the latest one being two months ago we have no record of him ever attending a course in the uk and he and his wife are said to live at these premises good luck if the team find the man living at the takeaway here in stoke they'll want to know why he's supposed to be studying at a college in london 130 miles away be ready to exit vehicles asap the takeaway is owned by the student's wife she has applied to stay in the uk as her husband's dependent evening hello miss i'm from the uk border agency immigration service okay are you in charge are you in charge yes you are if the husband is here under false pretenses then so is his wife russia officers spot the husband in a car outside the takeaway hello sir how are you doing and they find another chinese man working in the kitchen nothing to worry about just so many colleagues don't worry the team want to make sure each person in the restaurant is entitled to work in the uk they start by questioning the husband okay how long you been in the uk now nearly five years and what's your immigration status in the uk i just still don't i just come to see my babies the man and his wife have three children two of them born in the uk but it's news to the team the couple have not let the home office know about their growing family i don't understand why you're welcome here we've just come part of our um our role immigration is to check employees that the right uh permissions to work have been applied for me it's me you're the employer yeah fantastic have you got a list of your employees yeah you want the pepper you want to see the pepper absolutely as a student the husband is allowed to work 20 hours a week but he must be able to prove he's going to college so you're studying in the uk yeah where do you study and what's the name of the college i just been changed because i finished well you must know where you're studying you must know the name of the college you're studying at oh yeah and what is it and this business college and what was that address what road was it on oxford oxford road oxford street what was the post in london what was the postcode i can't remember how long did you study therefore one and a half years and what qualifications have you got no it wouldn't be a rater none at all the man appears to have little in the way of knowledge or qualifications to show but he has some papers he believes will prove that he's a genuine student he's been sorry look at this i'm just looking for proof that he's been studying at the moment i don't believe he's been studying we've got a lot of bogus students coming up uh obviously they're studying in london working all the way up here and doing no studying whatsoever even though the student can remember little about his studies he's in the clear he's provided a receipt for his tuition fees and proof that he's renting a flat near his college in london you're not going to be a big multi-millionaire businessman if he were to be a fictitious change then he's spending an awful lot of money putting a pretty elaborate plan together so as far as we're concerned you know he's legitimate he's here today to see his wife uh he's they've got three children his plan is to stay here for another 18 months our course and then return to china the student may be genuine but the team haven't finished at the takeaway just yet in a passageway next to the kitchen one of the officers has made an interesting discovery just walking past chair in front of what looks like a wall remove the chair out of the way give the wall of course and we've got a hidden bedroom obviously somebody's sleeping well living in here uh telly bed clothing etc quite well hidden you could quite easily walk past it and not see that there's a room here makes you think that obviously the person that's in here uh wants to remain hidden from anybody visiting the premises next the spotlight will be on the man found working in the kitchen he'll have to prove he has the right to be in britain in birmingham the jamaican man who's just been arrested on his wedding day has some explaining to do his bride was granted permission to marry him but he still needed to legitimize his status by returning to jamaica to reapply for a visa at this moment in time as far as where aware you are not locally in the country uh you are an overstayer um it is an offence if you grant me being the certificate of approval so you could have refused me there and then i said okay no we cannot grant you permission and the basis that you're an overstayer so you need to do this and you need to do that why put me through that grant me the permission and then at the same time pick me up from there that does make sense to me another alternative is to come and take you from your home but the situation is you may well be there with children now what happened today you have to you have to admit was the the most gentle way of taking you out of the situation why didn't you just go back to jamaica a long time ago save yourself the money and all of this nonsense get a visa and come back with a visa but it's not really just one thing to say okay this was the reason definitely reason but thing just get drunk and drag and drop and say okay there's that you need to do something about yourself no and i started to do it sure and i did it and luckily it was granted to me and i said well i must be lucky but you know he's so lucky all right nice to meet you i'm sorry under these circumstances okay and all the best in the future he's very compliant truly hurt by the the way the situation's gone but it's something that's gonna have to be done so it's better to do it now rather than later after two weeks in detention the man is taken to gatwick airport to be put on a flight back to jamaica it's a far cry from the dreams he had on the day of his way we make all the plans can you imagine that just imagine that so we got food we got the all we got music everything was being prepared and everything just fell flat so it's just a waste in every aspect that you look at and it never have to be like that it's good i didn't want to go back like this i don't mind going back i know going back would have been a part of the process but not like this not all attempts to use marriage as a way of staying in the uk are based on genuine relationships today a team in glasgow are targeting a man they believe has gone one step further in his search for permanent residency officer ian stewart and officer jeff hunter are planning to intercept the man moments before he gets married today we are we're off to visit a registrar's office in glasgow where we are going to investigate an alleged sham marriage and we've received intelligence which tells us that a gentleman is going to marry a british lady and he may not be entitled to be in the country and therefore not entitled to get married are you ready guys at those tails today's groom is a pakistani man who came into britain on a student visa in 2008 but his history with the uk border agency is not good and suggests he'll try anything to stay in the country the target has been in the uk previously claimed to be a bangladeshi national maybe he's claiming asylum and his asylum application was refused and he was actually removed back to dhaka in bangladesh so his own credibility isn't doubt the couple have no idea about the extra guests planning to surprise them on their big day the officers must keep their presence a secret in case the groom gets cold feet and runs plan is no one can actually see where we are situated the mr khan his wife in the witnesses will be brought in we'll be here this is where we will make her arrest and make further inquiries the wedding party has arrived expecting to go straight into the marriage ceremony but the team have arranged for just the groom to be brought into the room where they're ready and waiting hello hello sir you like to come in here for me please yeah hello i am an immigration officer from the united kingdom border agency so i'm arresting you as a suspected immigration offender you do not have to say anything but anything you do see may be noted and later given in evidence for the moment so for your safety and from mine i'm going to place handcuffs on you so i'd like you to put your hands like that for me please are you in front of you like this because no at the moment sir just put your hands up here for me all right would i just kill you let me explain to you something at this moment yeah let's take a seat over here for me mr all right all right so can you tell me why you're here today because i'm here to marry with my fiance okay how long have you known your fiance for since august 2007 and where did you first meet we met in the market down center first time and we start dating each other why are you marrying no son why are you getting married now because i've been i've been this lady to from the last two years okay and she's very caring and we being friends together first and then we realized that we fell in love right and she asked me one day and he said she asked she asked you yes you really like me really love me i said yes i do really like you love you and i really care about you and she did as well all right mr khan is this a last-ditch attempt for you to stay in the united kingdom by marrying a british citizen well look to marrying a british citizen is not a crime it's not an illegal right i didn't ask you that that's the case listen some listen to the question somebody if somebody fell in love with me and i fell in love with you and be cohabiting each other right is not a crime right have you paid no i did not pay any single penny you can ask her right now she is there all right mr khan what we're going to do now is we're going to take you uh to a vehicle which is parked at the back of this building can you please can i see my lawyer for one watch one minute you kill me you beat me but i want to have son please there's no need for that kind of talk we're not going to kill you we're not going to beat you i'm trying to explain to what's going to happen let's listen honestly you're under arrest we said just now okay my mother my god a mother heart condition right okay you have to inform my brother at least no first you go and tell you're arresting me no you first you go and tell arresting me mr khan if you do this nice and quietly then your mother won't get upset while she will be given the chance at the police station to ask who you want informed okay all right we will speak to yourself and we will tell everyone here what's happening so that's enough oh just one word with my brother i will leave not here at the police station yeah what i did wrong you tell me first can you can you explain this immigration here what did i go through all the documents paperwork here it's been everything you need to calm down okay everything will be explained to you just sit in the car just turn around head down keep your head down that's it just sitting there i'm going to go back up now we're going to speak to the wife we'll speak to the brother as well and let them know fill them in with the circumstances but we'll speak most importantly with her first of all and see which lawyers that she's got to give us okay we're now going to interview the ladies so we'll see what happens here take a seat here the team want to know what part the bride has played in planning the wedding will she back up the man's claims that they've been in a loving relationship for two years and that the proposed marriage is genuine secret coming up uncovering a secret life in the stoke takeaway and tall tales revealed at heathrow you've either lied to the home office so you can get your certificate or you're lying to me now they can't both be true you can't have been in brazil and met him [Music] at the hofuk takeaway in stoke the enforcement team are questioning the kitchen worker if he has a passport no thank you chief immigration officer sean flaherty uses an interpreter on the end of a phone the man who says he's an asylum seeker claims he's just here as a guest of his friends and helping out a little in return okay yeah absolutely he has a letter from the home office about his asylum claim which he keeps in his room secret the hidden cubbyhole next to the kitchen fantastic thank you he claims the letter confirms he has permission to work yes officer flaherty spots a second letter the man is less keen to hand over this one here yeah which you've quite rightly said they will say there's no restrictions on you taking employment back in 1998 yeah well then back in march 2008 you are not allowed to work yeah no no okay i only come here in the opening i mean i accept like you're not getting paid but in place of getting paid you give them food on board so it's work still work officer flaherty checks the home office records when was he refused the worker has never reported since claiming asylum in 1998 and his claim has been refused he is listed as an absconder and is not allowed to work okay mr zou you're under arrest okay you're a failed assam seeker yeah you have no leave to be in the united kingdom okay so you're now under arrest do you understand that no okay i'll break it down nice and simple you're under arrest you shouldn't be working you shouldn't be in the country you haven't complied with immigration so far you've rendered yourself in this position at the moment okay you're going to come with me it's like a word outside okay michael's going to search your room all right okay and he hasn't done anything to kind of helping salvage so he's under arrest now the team know that detaining and removing chinese illegal immigrants is not straightforward they will almost certainly have to release this man on bail the problem we've got is the length of time it takes us to get a travel document for a chinese person can be up to 12 months so it's almost certain that we're not going to get bed space for him for 12 months somehow we have to persuade him that he should report to us and that he can't work during that time the takeaway owner is legitimately in the uk as a dependent of her husband the student but she has been employing an illegal worker and could face a fine of up to ten thousand pounds you have to write to them okay let me just explain what's happened this gentleman here he's not allowed to work he's just helping me helping's working i'm afraid he's not allowed to help so helping my children is he working for me he's not allowed to work in the uk so where'd he go he's going to be detained now we're taking him to a police station where we'll interview him further okay man your head go to the front the team regularly find illegal immigrants who attempt to prolong their stay in the country by putting in baseless asylum claims in 2008 the uk border agency sent 13 000 failed asylum seekers back home asylums are for a reason asylums are to offer protection to people who genuinely need it people claim this island and then don't cooperate with us and it makes them operate at the asylum system and it's frankly it's an insult to the people actually a genuinely seeking asylum he hasn't played by the rules and uh i think he should be detained long term while we get a passport from that's my opinion right there is not enough room to detain all illegal immigrants picked up in enforcement raids especially when it can take a year to get hold of their travel dogs after being interviewed the man is released on bail the owner of the takeaway will be fined up to ten thousand pounds for employing an illegal work in glasgow a team are investigating what they believe is a sham marriage they have arrested a pakistani man who was minutes away from tying the knot with his british bride he says they've been in a steady relationship for two years and are very much in love now it's the bride's turn to explain how she came to be betrothed to the man she knows as jamie rose how long have you known this man august 2007 where did you meet him in a pub in a club in a restaurant in a house it's one of my friend's palsy so i met him through a friend then his friend brought him through a was that in a car park or was that just in the streets and what was the purpose of this meeting why why did your friend bring this man to meet you just talking to me and asking the things today like if i was getting money like benefits and all that did he mention giving you any money at all for the purpose of possibly getting married especially if you tell the truth no he's never he's offered he's gave me money in that but how much how much money has he been giving you every day every week every month every week gives you 20 pounds every week and what's that for now it's just to help me if i didn't start with stuff like for gas and i like in that whose idea was it to get married all right did you fill in a form to get married because i've seen a form with all your details on your name your mother your father then it's signed by you i signed a banner so you didn't fill the form and it was filled in for you by i don't know but it was filled in when you saw it did jamie not tell you what it was for no jamie just did saying your name there that's what i got told and has he ever mentioned to you about getting married so that he can stay here in the united kingdom stay in scotland have you ever discussed that he mentioned something like that he asked me but i never because i mentioned something about have you ever been married before and i told them no i've not been married before but i mentioned about married than that but i never mentioned anything but getting married to me every night so if jamie had said to you come on let's go to glasgow we're going to get married what would you have said to him i would have said no have you ever had any intention of being getting married to jimmy rose camp no just wendy do you believe now that he's deceiving you so that he can remain in the uk if i knew this i would never have done it okay i'll tell you back through okay i don't know what she thought she was coming to sign um she thought she was coming to sign papers um and she had no intention of getting married didn't know she was coming to get married uh why why else you would come to a registry office i'm not 100 certain but um she's uh she was certainly in no mind to get married today so it kind of puts the mockers on his explanation of why he's here today the team has satisfied the man's attempt to get married today was a scam to stay in the uk and they caught him just in time if he did get married today then ultimately he would have been in a far stronger position with the home office uh to submit any applications to remain in the uk because he would have obviously been saying that he was in a uh a marriage that was subsisting and it would be harder for us with any applications that you put in to reject that the man is held in detention awaiting his removal back to pakistan the team except that the bride was an innocent victim of his scam at heathrow's terminal 3 a brazilian man has arrived to see his british civil partner they got married the last time he was in the uk and now he wants to spend six months with his husband chief officer matt dyson asks officer lisa lee to investigate because the passenger claims to have another important reason for his visit he's on police bail and due to appear in court he says he was arrested after visiting a sick greek friend in a hotel who had overdosed on cocaine he says that he was not using the drug but he was arrested anyway we need to speak to the police how serious you know is the investigation into him or is it something that they would let slip and just not be that bothered about if he wasn't actually here yep if it is quite serious is he somebody that we should be admitting anyway to find out officer lee needs to know more about the passengers brush with the law let's phone the police um i understand there are some charges pending and i'll be grateful if someone can give me a call back as to whether or not he's required to attend a hearing on the friday the 1st of may thanks very much belgravia police station is busy while officer lee waits to hear if the police want to pursue a case against the passenger her own investigation throws up serious questions about the man's immigration history he was actually arrested in the uk on a drugs charge in march 2009 according to his passport he entered the uk in april 2008. as a visitor to the uk he's only allowed to stay six months so if he entered the uk in april 2008 and was still here in march 2009 he's overstayed by almost five months officer lee checks the passenger's earlier visits to see if he's made a habit of overstaying his visa she finds the evidence she's looking for in his application to marry his civil partner he confirms in this letter that he met him in august 2007 in a london nightclub the problem we have with that is he was stamped in as a visitor in january 2006 there are no other entry or exit stamps for the uk in that period of time so he must have overstayed here because he's only supposed to stay six months he should have left the uk in the summer but he was still here a year and a half later it appears the passenger has twice stayed longer in britain than he should have okay do you want to come through officer lee wants to see if there's anything in his bags to reveal what he's doing in the country this time did you did you pack the bags yourself yeah did anybody help you pack are you aware of the content you know everything that's in your bag and why were you arrested why did the police arrest you here why did they arrest my friend by the hell he was drunk in a hotel and they called me for help to him and i was helping him ask to the emergence but i was the phone in the hotel so i didn't say the hotel my friends use the drug and then the hotel called the police you weren't using the drugs then no no i drink a lot of jack daniels i love it you like your jack daniels what do you drink it with what do you have it with coke we're going back upstairs yeah officer lee has learned a little more about the passenger's adventures with the police she has also found something to suggest that he might be here to work i'll interview you he was carrying a lifeguard qualification id is he doing that here because he's not supposed to he's not supposed to work my suspicion is he's working here as a lifeguard how he's doing that i don't know whether he's got some other form of id that he presents an id card from another country maybe it's time to find out how the passenger has beaten the system for so long mr toledo come out sir and to discover what he's up to this time okay so if you can just take a seat there for me so why do you have the lifeguard id because i did the course i did you try to work for lifeguard when i finish a course but it's not not work for me okay apart from your brazilian passport do you have any other nationality passport or identification documents no no i did it before i did it before when i come she doesn't see because i always make for work but no i didn't take the um i get the prison for this for one month and a half what document were you using is italy passport yeah how did you get that where did you get it from yeah who's from yeah okay who from i meet somebody on the restaurant he said to me huh you don't have visa no so i'm making the pasta party for you and say how much 300 pounds in me okay where did you go to prison in england if the passenger wants to come into the country to see his husband he'll have to convince officer lee that his travels have been legitimate since going to prison for using a fake italian passport [Music] at heathrow the story given by the passenger from brazil is not adding up both his arrest for possessing drugs and meeting his husband happened during periods he should not have been in the country officer lee suspects he's been using a fake italian passport to get in and out of britain i'm going to start from the beginning of your first time here okay how long did you say you would stay couple six months and i did stay six months so when did you leave the uk that year when did you leave and when did you leave your kids yeah in july yeah when was the next time that you entered the uk is 2008. that's that's the lie you claim in your letter that you wrote to the home office that you met your partner in october 2007 in london 2007. how did you do that if you weren't in the country which day but which day did you apply for before how could you have met him if you weren't in the country i didn't meet you here in 2008 2007. well that's what you told the home office you were wrong you've either lied to the home office so you can get your certificate or you're lying to me now all right one of those things they can't both be true you can't have been in brazil and met him you say in that letter you were together from october 2017. yes were you in the uk in 2007. yes or no yes yes yes in 2007. but i didn't go to brazil and i'll come back but i don't know which [ __ ] coming back you know because i come to the italy i really don't like so try to be serious i try to remember things my next question is then how did you enter the uk what passport brazilian where's the entry stamp yeah exactly i don't have you why not how can you as a brazilian national travel from italy to the uk without getting a stamp in your passport how would they not stamp your passport because it's a normal boat it's not like even i go on the boat to france they check my passport which port did it leave it's not part of it well the boats don't sail from italy to the uk unless you went on a cruise ship so where did you sail from syriza cameron members 2007 you need to start giving me some explanation sir all right because at the moment your immigration history with the uk is not very good is it yeah i know i see that quite a lot's come out of the interview in the sense that i had a suspicion that he may well have been using a another document of some kind and he's admitted to me straight away that he did use an italian passport to try and get a national insurance number he won't admit to having used it to travel on but my suspicion is he has because the fact he doesn't have stamps in his passports for his claimed visits to and from the continent would lead me to believe he's used it he's obviously admitted he's been here for four years on and off pretty much constantly living here i think he's been working he won't admit to it but you know he's been working here he's not a genuine visitor he wants to live here he's not a genuine visitor even though officer lee is in no doubt about the passengers status she must refer the case to chief officer dyson in my opening gambit was have you or have you ever been in possession or are you entitled to any other nationality document or id or well there was the italian passport i went to prison for a month for he went to prison for a month he used it to try and get an ni number and it was deemed forged which because it was has he used to travel he says not but i don't believe that well but then he's he's damned by his own words he's either used the document to travel which again is illegal yeah or he's always stayed he can't have it both ways and he acknowledges that right we'll just we'll just have him as an overstayer then okay yep thanks he's a serial abuser of uk law and the immigration system he's overstayed twice he's apparently by his own admission done a short period of time for using a false italian passport and he's currently under under investigation for drugs charges i don't consider that's the sort of person i want to be letting in mr toledo hello i'm afraid i've got some bad news this kind of bad news bad news is that you're going to be refused entry to the uk we're not allowing you in um not in the uk not coming into the uk and we're going to send you back to brazil on sunday morning okay well because you're you're coming here as a visitor and you've been living here as a visitor you're not allowed to do that no no the first time but now i was married it's another situation you don't have the right if you read your home office letter sir it quite clearly says that doesn't mean you can stay and live here you still need to sort the paperwork sorry about that i think have a safe journey home he's shown a blatant disregard really for immigration rules he may not understand it he may claim not to understand it but the fact that the matter remains that stamp in his passport tells him he can't work and he can only stay for six months he's broken two at least two occasions he stayed longer than he should so limbs the rubs i guess the police do not pursue the drugs charge deciding instead it's better the passenger is kept out of britain he's put on a flight back to brazil where he'll have to hatch another plan if he wants to see his husband [Music] you

Channel: FD Real

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Reality Shows, Show (TV Genre), Documentaries, Factual Entertainment, Factual Television, non-fiction, Best factual series, FD Real, FD Real Show, UK Border Force, Bill Nighy, Illegal Immigration, Illegal Immigrant, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Bollocks to Boris, UK Politics, Get Brexit Done, Vote Leave, Take Back Control, no border no nation, No Borders, Nigel Farage, UKIP, Brexit Party, United Kingdom, UK, uk immigration, Asylum, Police State, Police, ACAB

Id: aG1ZaWSYoQ0

Length: 44min 7sec (2647 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 25 2020