A shocking undercover investigation has exposed a brazen black market for UK visas operating openly on Facebook, with fixers offering to sell skilled worker permits for as little as £12,000 using sham jobs and forged documents.
How the Fraudulent Schemes Operate
The Mail's investigation found unregulated consultants advertising on Facebook Marketplace who boast of using contrived payroll records, forged certificates, and non-existent jobs to dupe the Home Office into accepting applications. Their fraud enables migrants to illegally exploit legitimate immigration routes to enter and remain in the UK.
One fixer, Komal Shinde, told an undercover reporter posing as an Indian student that she could arrange a skilled worker visa for between £12,000 and £19,000. She operates via Krishiv Consultancy Ltd, advertising "All UK immigration services at lower cost" with a "high success approval rate," despite not being registered with any legal authority. Ms. Shinde, who is herself in the UK on a student visa, offered visas for roles in care homes, warehouses, and restaurants, often where the migrant would not need to work.
To deceive officials, the fixers orchestrate a fake payroll "cycle": the sponsoring employer pays a salary into the migrant's bank account, who then immediately returns the cash. Ms. Shinde also offered to help obtain a Global Talent visa—meant for exceptional individuals in fields like science or the arts—by creating fake certificates and experience letters for a fee of up to £30,000.
Cash for Visas Disguised as Business Investment
Another operator, Roop Masih, who uses the name Gill Love, runs a cash-for-visas operation thinly disguised as an investment scheme. Advertised with a Union Jack image on Facebook Marketplace, it offers a "free" skilled worker visa to anyone who "invests" £25,000 in his high-street fast-food outlets.
At a meeting, Masih likened the scam to "Costco and Tesco" supermarket "buy one get one free" deals. He explained that no work was required and outlined a similar fake payroll scheme to maintain a veneer of legality. Masih claimed to have been running such schemes for 12 years and boasted, "I haven't had to get a job ever since."
His business partner, Zack, said they could provide a Certificate of Sponsorship within a fortnight of payment and connect applicants with solicitors who were "old hands" at the process. They also offered coaching for Home Office interviews, warning that appearing anxious could lead to failure.
A System in Crisis and Official Response
This illicit trade highlights major flaws in the UK's immigration system. Between their launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024, 1.18 million people applied for skilled worker visas, including 630,000 dependents. A damning Commons Public Accounts Committee report last summer found "widespread" abuse of the route and warned the Home Office has no idea how many of these migrants stay to work illegally after their permits expire.
The report also uncovered evidence of workers suffering debt bondage and exploitative conditions. The visa blackmarket raises serious safety concerns, particularly in care, with one fixer offering a nursing auxiliary visa to a film studies graduate with no relevant experience.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "This is yet another shocking example of Labour's total loss of border control. These shameless and brazen criminals are making a mockery of our immigration system."
A Home Office spokesman stated: "We are investigating this illegal activity and it will not be tolerated... anyone found flouting the rules can expect the full force of the law." A spokeswoman for Meta, Facebook's parent company, said the violating content and accounts had been removed for breaching policies.
When contacted, Ms. Shinde denied selling visas, claiming she merely connected people. Zack denied wrongdoing, saying they teach "self-sponsorship" through business investment. Mr. Masih did not respond to requests for comment.
