A number of employees have been found without UK work permits in Birmingham.
The UK immigration authorities raided a total of five businesses on Wednesday, June 29th and discovered seven people working without the correct work permits or UK visas.
A Pakistani man and an Iraqi man were caught at the City Valeting car wash on Stratford Road, while two further male Pakistanis were found at Saj Kebab food outlet on Edward street.
Three additional sites were raided and officials discovered two workers who had overstayed their UK visas, along with one further illegal immigrant.
The first two businesses have now been issued with notices stating that they may be liable for fines of up to £20,000 for employing people without the correct work permits and immigration papers. These fines may well be issued unless the companies can prove that they conducted the correct pre-employment checks on their staff.
However, the other three companies are not liable for such fines because the officials did not see the illegal employees actually working.
Claire Portlock, West Midlands local immigration team, UK Border Agency, said: "We are cracking down on companies that employ illegal workers and fail to carry out proper checks on passports and other identity documents.
"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. Rogue businesses should be warned that they face heavy fines and could end up in jail."