Immigration specialists have demanded an urgent review of Skilled Worker visas granted by the Home Office after GB News found evidence of successful applications which failed to meet basic criteria.
GB News has seen dozens of skilled worker visas being granted by the Home Office despite failing to meet legal requirements.
It follows the publication of a National Audit Office report last month which warned the Home Office did not have the necessary systems in place to stop exploitation of the immigration route.
Skilled Worker visas enable those from overseas with specific abilities to work in the UK in a job sponsored by a licensed UK employer.
The visas are assessed on a number of eligibility requirements, such as skill and salary level and English language ability. 256,300 applied for a Skilled Worker Visa between 2021 and 2024.
GB News has seen dozens of examples of employers' Certificate of Sponsorships for visas were approved without meeting the necessary criteria.
The evidence, which has been verified for The People's Channel by specialists in immigration law, have sparked concerns as to the true scale of the number of Skilled Worker visas being wrongly approved.
Examples of visas which appear to have been wrongly approved include applications which did not list any specialist skills, attached incorrect job codes, or failed to match a job on the Government's approved list of skilled workers.
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Others failed to meet the minimum salary thresholds set out in the Home Office's caseworker guidelines.
Minimum salary thresholds for the year up to April 2023 and April 2024 were respectively based on 39 and 37.5-hour working weeks.
However, some salaries on visa applications seen by GB News were based on a 48 hour week, meaning workers were being underpaid and, in some cases, even given a salary which falls below the national minimum wage.
Having reviewed the visas passed by The People's Channel, immigration barrister Paul Turner said: "If the Home Office caseworker had applied the correct guidance, (many of) these Certificates of Sponsorships (CoS) should not have been issued.
"It is unclear whether it is incompetence or ignorance that is to blame for the Home Office issuing CoS documents for jobs that are either not on their list, or where the salaries are wholly inadequate."
Turner added: “The information provided relating to the CoS should have meant that the applications were refused, not granted.
"In any event given the prevalence of fraud and abuse in the skilled worker sector, these figures ought to have led not to a COS being issued but to, if not suspension of the sponsor licence, then at the very least a visit from the Home Office Compliance team."
Meanwhile, immigration solicitor Amrit Maan OBE called for an "urgent review" of the applications by the Home Office.
He said: "Having thoroughly examined the provided CoS documents and the relevant Home Office guidance, I have concluded that the CoS documents are in clear breach of immigration rules and guidance.
"As a result, the visas issued on this basis were improperly granted and should not have been approved. I would urgently request an immediate review of this matter."
A report by the NAO published in March warned the Home Office "has not yet developed a systematic assessment of risks and has limited data on the extent of workplace exploitation and sponsor compliance with requirements".
The NAO said that following the creation of the Skilled Worker visa in the Home Office had struggled to respond to the risks of non-compliant applications but admitted it had since strengthened its approach.
It highlighted that there had been a decrease in the number of approved visas from 99 per cent in 2021 to 79 per cent in 2024 and the refusal ratehas risen from 7 per cent to 13 per cent on sponsor licence applications.
The visa applications handed to The People's Channel pre-date the Labour Government.
Labour MP Jonathan Brash said: "It’s crucial that if we are going to fix our broken immigration system then we must get these processes right.
"If these errors have happened then it needs to be investigated and fixed to ensure that the rules are applied correctly."
The Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said: "The Home Office needs to urgently audit these companies and those involved in issuing incorrect visas should immediately be stripped of their sponsor status."
He added: "Any caseworkers who have been applying the guidelines incorrectly should be fired."
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Sponsoring organisations must meet strict duties and be able to offer genuine vacancies in order to obtain a licence.
"Where a sponsor fails in those duties, or sponsors workers for non-genuine vacancies we will take action, including revoking their licence."
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GB News has seen dozens of skilled worker visas being granted by the Home Office despite failing to meet legal requirements.
It follows the publication of a National Audit Office report last month which warned the Home Office did not have the necessary systems in place to stop exploitation of the immigration route.
Skilled Worker visas enable those from overseas with specific abilities to work in the UK in a job sponsored by a licensed UK employer.
The visas are assessed on a number of eligibility requirements, such as skill and salary level and English language ability. 256,300 applied for a Skilled Worker Visa between 2021 and 2024.
GB News has seen dozens of examples of employers' Certificate of Sponsorships for visas were approved without meeting the necessary criteria.
The evidence, which has been verified for The People's Channel by specialists in immigration law, have sparked concerns as to the true scale of the number of Skilled Worker visas being wrongly approved.
Examples of visas which appear to have been wrongly approved include applications which did not list any specialist skills, attached incorrect job codes, or failed to match a job on the Government's approved list of skilled workers.
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Others failed to meet the minimum salary thresholds set out in the Home Office's caseworker guidelines.
Minimum salary thresholds for the year up to April 2023 and April 2024 were respectively based on 39 and 37.5-hour working weeks.
However, some salaries on visa applications seen by GB News were based on a 48 hour week, meaning workers were being underpaid and, in some cases, even given a salary which falls below the national minimum wage.
Having reviewed the visas passed by The People's Channel, immigration barrister Paul Turner said: "If the Home Office caseworker had applied the correct guidance, (many of) these Certificates of Sponsorships (CoS) should not have been issued.
"It is unclear whether it is incompetence or ignorance that is to blame for the Home Office issuing CoS documents for jobs that are either not on their list, or where the salaries are wholly inadequate."
Turner added: “The information provided relating to the CoS should have meant that the applications were refused, not granted.
"In any event given the prevalence of fraud and abuse in the skilled worker sector, these figures ought to have led not to a COS being issued but to, if not suspension of the sponsor licence, then at the very least a visit from the Home Office Compliance team."
Meanwhile, immigration solicitor Amrit Maan OBE called for an "urgent review" of the applications by the Home Office.
He said: "Having thoroughly examined the provided CoS documents and the relevant Home Office guidance, I have concluded that the CoS documents are in clear breach of immigration rules and guidance.
"As a result, the visas issued on this basis were improperly granted and should not have been approved. I would urgently request an immediate review of this matter."
A report by the NAO published in March warned the Home Office "has not yet developed a systematic assessment of risks and has limited data on the extent of workplace exploitation and sponsor compliance with requirements".
The NAO said that following the creation of the Skilled Worker visa in the Home Office had struggled to respond to the risks of non-compliant applications but admitted it had since strengthened its approach.
It highlighted that there had been a decrease in the number of approved visas from 99 per cent in 2021 to 79 per cent in 2024 and the refusal ratehas risen from 7 per cent to 13 per cent on sponsor licence applications.
The visa applications handed to The People's Channel pre-date the Labour Government.
Labour MP Jonathan Brash said: "It’s crucial that if we are going to fix our broken immigration system then we must get these processes right.
"If these errors have happened then it needs to be investigated and fixed to ensure that the rules are applied correctly."
The Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said: "The Home Office needs to urgently audit these companies and those involved in issuing incorrect visas should immediately be stripped of their sponsor status."
He added: "Any caseworkers who have been applying the guidelines incorrectly should be fired."
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Sponsoring organisations must meet strict duties and be able to offer genuine vacancies in order to obtain a licence.
"Where a sponsor fails in those duties, or sponsors workers for non-genuine vacancies we will take action, including revoking their licence."
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