Sri Lankan arrested for overstaying visa in England
Thursday, 10 October 2013 00:00
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A Sri Lankan man was among six individuals arrested in Lancashire, England last week for immigration offenses. The 38-year-old man was arrested for overstaying his visa. He had also been working illegally at a shop in the area. The five others arrested were from India and Bangladesh. They were arrested by a Home Office immigration enforcement team which had been acting on intelligence.
All six will remain in immigration detention pending removal from the country.
The businesses where the illegal workers were found were handed civil penalty notices. They will be fined up to £ 10,000 per illegal worker unless proof is provided that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out.
The Home Office’s North West Immigration Enforcement Team Assistant Director Colin Berrington said: “Illegal working has a serious impact on communities, undermining legitimate businesses and taking jobs from those who are genuinely allowed to work. These arrests are also a stark warning to anyone who is in the UK illegally. We will catch up with you and you will face arrest, detention and removal from the country.”
Arrests are carried out by trained immigration officers who carry out operations at businesses and private addresses, acting on intelligence received from the public and other sources. All intelligence is protected.
Net migration has fallen by a third since its peak in 2010 showing the Home Office is continuing to bring immigration back under control.
The new Immigration Bill will reduce the pull factors to this country and make it easier to remove people with no right to be here.
On Tuesday 26 March 2013 the Home Secretary announced that the UK Border Agency will be replaced by two new immigration commands within the Home Office; an immigration and visa service and an immigration law enforcement organisation. These changes came into effect on Monday 1 April 2013.
