Home Office representatives have visited a business in Surrey and arrested two illegal workers in relation to their right to work in Britain.
The UK immigration officials received intelligence regarding The Ancient Raj restaurant last week and visited the establishment on Friday (August 30th) to establish whether or not the information regarding the employees' immigration statuses was correct.
After questioning the workers, in-depth checks were carried out on two Bangladeshi workers who were found not to have the correct UK work permits or documentation to be undertaking paid employment in Britain.
One of the men, aged 22, was found to have been working in breach of his UK visa conditions, while the other, aged 28, had overstayed his visa.
Both of the men are being held in an immigration detention centre ahead of their removal from the country. The business, meanwhile, has been hit with a penalty notice, warning that it could be charged up to £20,000 - £10,000 for each illegal worker – of it does not prove that it carried out the required right-to-work checks before taking on the men.
Paul Smith, head of Thames Valley and Surrey immigration enforcement team with the Home Office, commented on the arrests: “Our enforcement teams carry out operations like this almost every day in Surrey and we have no intention of slowing down. These arrests are a stark warning to anyone who is in the UK illegally. We will catch up with and you will face arrest, detention and removal from the country.”
He urged businesses to carry out the correct checks when hiring staff in order to avoid heavy fines.