A whistle-blower has made sensational claims that marriage certificates are being forged, including pairing brothers and sisters as husbands and wives, as part of elaborate schemes to secure employment with care agencies in the UK.
According to H-metro, thousands of Zimbabweans have been lured to work in the UK care industry, joining migrant communities from Nigeria, India, Romania, Poland, and the Philippines, among others.
However, a whistle-blower claims the visa application process and subsequent care jobs have been tainted by individuals who are forging marriage certificates, among other documents.
The whistle-blower reports receiving help and counselling after his wife took their child to the UK without his permission, and altered the child’s documents through forgery. He has initiated legal proceedings against his wife in Zimbabwe.
“I have been invited by the BBC to testify about my ongoing issue. I also had an online interview with the Home Office and shared everything. Several issues will be discussed, including:
- How Zimbabweans are forging marriage certificates with their siblings to obtain visas.
- How Zimbabweans are forging children’s documents and school records.
- How Zimbabweans are forging and purchasing job references.
- How Zimbabweans are bribing local leaders for traditional marriage recommendation letters.
- How Zimbabweans are buying and forging Red Cross and St. John’s certificates.
- How Zimbabweans are bribing furniture companies to backdate supporting evidence of marriage.
- How Zimbabweans are secretly housing each other in the UK without notifying the Home Office or local councils.
- How Zimbabweans are selling Care Support Officer (CSO) positions and employing others as childminders or maids without proper documentation.
There have been reports of serious exploitation of Zimbabweans, often by their fellow countrymen, particularly those running care agencies.
In February, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that a care company charged migrant workers from Africa thousands of pounds to work in the UK, despite visa costs being only a few hundred pounds.
“Care workers from Zimbabwe were told to pay these sums to Gloriavd Health Care Ltd in exchange for arranging social care jobs in and around Leeds and Bath,” the newspaper reported.
They were given far less paid work than expected, housed in overcrowded rooms, and threatened with deportation if they complained.
Winnet Mushaninga, a 40-year-old qualified care worker from Zimbabwe, provided evidence of bank transfers totalling £5,500 to the company. Upon arriving in Britain last April, she claimed she had to live in a room with three others, sleeping on mattresses on the floor, earning just £20 a day, and relying on a church food bank for food.
The Home Office charges no more than £551 for a care worker visa, and the cost of a sponsor license for a small company is £536.
“The trauma and suffering were immense. We paid a lot of money. It’s just painful.”
Mushaninga is one of several care workers in Yorkshire being supported by the Leeds branch of Acorn, a community union fighting for justice for care workers.-H-metro
