An immigration lawyer is facing jail following a scam involving fraudulent documentation.
Ravi Gupta, an accredited advisor at Harrow-based firm Surge Global Solutions, admitted 14 counts of assisting illegal immigration after having sold false papers for £5,000 a set to help cleaners, restaurant staff and supermarket workers to improve their chances of extending their UK visas.
However, according to reports in the Evening Standard, the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) suspects Mr Gupta may have helped as many as 100 people fraudulently.
The majority of his clients were from the Indian subcontinent and Indian Sri Lanka. Five of the clients have already been sentenced, while a further two are due in court this week (August 18th).
Mr Gupta, meanwhile, has also admitted the charge of obtaining leave to remain in the UK by deception, suggesting his own UK visa documents are not entirely valid. He will also be sentenced shortly.
A spokesman for the UKBA told the paper: "When someone was coming to an end of their visa he would assist them with the fake certificates or pay slips to make it look as if they were in far better jobs and were more highly skilled then they actually were.
"But typically the clients were in low paid jobs such as working in supermarkets, restaurants or cleaning jobs that wouldn't count."