If you are planning to immigrate to UK, make sure that you are careful to avoid immigration scams. There are a lot of scam artists today who are out to take your money. Learning about their schemes will help you avoid them. Because of the surge on immigration on line companies and applications and with the use of the internet as the primary source of information, this allowed on line frauds and scams and one of the targets has been UK immigration.
Immigration scam or fraud takes various forms. Anyone can be a victim here. The country may welcome an individual with fake identity. The immigrant officer may be provided with false information, which will result to the granting of visa. Immigrants may also become victims of immigration agency or consultancy group. With the different types of fraudulent schemes today, it is essential that everyone is careful, especially the immigrants as well as the foreign individuals who plan to work or study in the UK.
UK immigration laws have continually adapted and continued to put up new methodical processes to keep up with the recent schemes and frauds. UK immigration officials have continued to create checklists to give a counter blow to uprising in fraudulent acts.
These are some of the different fraudulent activities.
Identity Theft / Fraud:
There are different types of frauds and scams related to immigration today. First, there is the identity theft or fraud. Many foreign individuals use a stolen identity or create a new identity to gain access to the UK. Some use the stolen information to be eligible for a UK visa.
Others use identity theft to hide their criminal records to be granted access to the country. This creates a problem regarding security as identity fraud may also be used by foreign individuals or terrorist groups to commit crimes in the UK.
Many fraudsters succeed amidst the focus given to this concern and the strengthening of the UK immigration law. This is because of the information that people can access online.
Identity theft is one of the most common cheats used in UK immigration and UK visa applications. Identity can also be faked in terms of using known immigration agencies and consultation firms. This scheme targets immigration applicants and gather fees.
Providing False Information:
Fraud also takes place when a foreign individual provides false information to gain access or acquire permit to live or work in the UK. One of the common types is the immigration marriage fraud. This takes place when an immigrant marries a citizen or a resident to acquire legal status to work or stay in the UK. Often, a citizen is paid to play the part of the spouse. However, there are also cases when the other party is not aware of the immigrant’s plan.
In other instances, bigger organizations may be behind the fraudulent act. A couple of colleges in London have been shut down due to providing false credentials to help students acquire legal status to study and stay in the UK. They were discovered to fabricate and falsify documents to facilitate visa approval.
False information is also given by companies hiring aliens for work in UK. These companies want to deal with low income pay to aliens. These aliens very well want to have work in London for a lower price due to additional benefits. These acts are not legal according to UK immigration laws.
Immigration consultant fraud:
Many have been victims of immigration consultant fraud. Immigrants or foreign individual, who want to acquire UK work visa, seek the help of immigration consultant to help them with the processing of their documents. However, not everyone got the help they needed. Others ended up with false promises and piled bills.
These are most common. These immigration companies want to deal your UK immigration needs and promise a very fat application process. Always remember that the UK application process takes a fixed amount of time and under no method will applications be fast forwarded unless you are doing an illegal application or you have very important foreign missions, meaning you should be of high government office status or private institutions with great influence.
Avoiding immigration fraud:
To avoid fraudulent immigration schemes, the UK Immigration laws are now stricter and firmer. They have developed ways to detect false identification. The immigrants and foreign individuals have to be careful as well. Connections on illegal and fraudulent acts may result to revocation of UK visas, rejection of UK visa applications or even black listings on the UK immigrations.
Here are some of the ways to avoid the different forms of immigration scams and legal problems:
Be truthful.
You have nothing to be afraid of if you provide honest information in your application. If you are not eligible for a certain type of UK visa, check your other options. Resist the urge to falsify documents or turn to illegal means like resorting to immigration marriage fraud. With the strengthened UK immigration laws, it is very likely that the authorities will discover such scheme.
UK immigration is one of the hardest immigration processes. You have to be able to deal with the UK visa requirements and produce each for every aspect of your applications. These requirements may take more time, but be patient as the rewards are great, especially for immigrants and working class visas.
Find a trustworthy immigration consultant.
This will reduce the chances of being a victim of a fraudulent act. Look for referrals from people you trust. Personally check on the consultant or company you are going to work with. How long has the consultancy firm been in the business? Are there complaints or cases filed against them?
You always have to find a legitimate immigration agent. This is very important. Although it is less advisable, you may look for a very good agency on line and research them over the internet as well. You have to find a UK immigration expert. They are usually available on line as the top immigration consultant agencies always have a great site to assess you applications.
These top immigration consultancy firms will also have agencies all over the world so you can always check them out if you are cautious about their legitimacy. They should also have complete UK immigration accreditation and include local government business permits.
Be aware of the red flags of a fraudulent immigration consultant.
There are many fly by night consultants. They would claim many things like an affiliation to a trusted consultancy firm. To avoid this, meet the consultant or agent in the company office. Do not rely on phone conversations or meet ups in cafes or hotels, or online interviews and acquaintances. One of the red flags of fraudulent schemes is the agent’s avoidance to meet you in the company office. Another sign is the agent’s urgency to ask for upfront payment. You are not obliged to pay him unless he has rendered the services expected of him.
Another red flag is offer for a faster UK visa processing. As discussed above, you will be offered different out of the ordinary packages that are not allowed by UK immigration laws. Do not, under any circumstances attend these agencies as their methods are most likely illegal and unrecognized by UK immigration offices and agencies.
It is important to be vigilant on your visa applications with an agency. There have been too many instances for these illegal acts and you don’t want to be a part on any. Research and ask a lot of questions. When you witness or suspect irregularities, do not hesitate to withdraw your connections or report the acts to UK immigration officials.
Protect your personal information.
Since identity theft and fraud is rampant these days, make sure that you protect your personal information. You would not want the thieves to use your information in their UK visa application, would you? Do not provide such information easily as well. See to it that you are talking to trusted individuals before providing valuable information. Such information includes your social security number, birthday, full name and address.
Giving out personal information on line may also be a great disadvantage. You have to have a good trust level with the immigration consultancy if you want to give out any information online. You personal information may be used for illegal acts and leave your name with the blame.
Knowing the processes for UK visa applications
Be well informed about the legal processes of acquiring a UK visa. Although you plan to work with a consultant or agent, it is still important that you are knowledgeable about the processes. Online information is helpful, but you also have to ask your local government for assistance. Being knowledgeable will help you detect fraudulent agencies or consultants.
When assessing the Consultancies or agencies, always find time to research them. You can use the internet for blogs, reviews and forums.
Blogs
When reading blogs, you should find the blogs that have had a great series of articles having the same notes and not the blogs that have single entries. You should also try to find blogs with good written and detailed information that are consistent with the UK immigration laws and processes.
Reviews
Review sites are a good source of information for the assessing the best immigration agencies. Know that the review sites should be fair and consistent. They should offer many reviews, and not just one. Testimonials should be present. The testimonials should be verified individuals and not planted by the agency itself.
Forums
Forums are one of the best ways to gather information about your interests. Although agencies have been known to advertise at forums and giving out answers, choose the forums that have a great deal of threading form verified immigrants who have experience/past connections with the immigration assisting entities.
If you want to search forums, just try use Google and enter the subject you want and add “forums”. You’ll find out a lot of extras in forums.
Additional thoughts
Many dream of working or migrating to the UK. However, it is important to be careful as many can take advantage of that dream. If you want to move there, see to it that you follow the local proceedings. It is also important that you are careful of who to trust.
Following the rules in the UK immigration policies is very crucial as UK immigration Laws may give out sanctions for applicants deemed to have submitted irregular documents on purpose. The visa grant is not a legal matter and decisions on the applications are all subjective. Applicants may have no claim for rejections or any sanctions dealt unto them by UK immigration offices.
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