News Archive - February 2011

Restaurant employees caught without UK work permits

09 Feb 2011 | Posted by Carl Thomas

Two employees have been caught working in a restaurant without the correct UK work permits or immigration permissions.

The business in question is located in Rugby and the workers were discovered during a raid by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers on Thursday, February 3rd.

Both male, the workers were discovered to be from China. The 18-year-old has been detained pending his removal back to China, while the 42-year-old was temporarily released on immigration bail as action is taken to remove him from the country.

Alison Spowage, UKBA assistant director in Warwickshire, commented: "Any business that takes on a foreign national without permission to work should be aware that it is breaking the law as well as undermining law-abiding employers."

She added that the agency will continue to "crack down on companies that employ illegal workers and fail to carry out proper checks on passports and other identity documents".

The arrests in Rugby come after UK immigration officials in Northampton found three Chinese men and one Indonesian working without permission at a restaurant in the town.

Action is also being taken to remove these four illegal employees from the country.

Fines of up to £10,000 per worker can be imposed on businesses that are found to have no checked their employees' UK work permits or passports.