Government agencies led by the United Kingdom's (UK) Home Office are cracking down on illegal employment in high risk areas such as the construction industry, which has the highest percentage of illegal immigrants in the country. The "Operation Magnify" campaign announced by UK's Immigration Minister in October 2015 is a program involving site enforcement visits targeting illegal employment primarily in the construction industry.
Enforcement efforts under Operation Magnify
As per The Construction Index of UK (http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk), immigration officials raided 69 construction sites in the UK between October 11-18, 2015 and arrested 257 construction laborers working illegally at these construction sites. Out of the 257 people arrested, 119 had overstayed their visas (with Tier 4 general student and family visit visas being the most common types breached; one third each), 127 did not have a visa at all and the remaining 11 were arrested for other immigration offences. Two-thirds of the illegal construction workers were Indian nationals; other nationalities included Albanians, Pakistanis and Nigerians.
Nine businesses received Immigration Enforcement referral notices, warning that they may be liable for financial penalties of up to £20,000 per illegal worker that was arrested. The onus is on the employer to prove that they checked for documentation establishing appropriate work authorizations.
The UK government aims to send out a clear message - it wants to disrupt illegal working in the country which deprives employment to UK citizens and other legal migrants and brings down wage and punish employers who do not play by the rules.
Guidelines for Employers:
It is the duty of every employer to conduct a scrutiny of all documents of a foreign job applicant before employing him or her. The employer should carefully examine all documents and ensure that they are genuine, original and unchanged and that the applicant has the appropriate work authorization to work for the employer. Failure to comply with these mandatory checks on part of the employer attracts penalty and criminal sanction in certain cases. The civil penalty can be of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker. The employer can also be sentenced to jail for up to two years and receive an unlimited fine for knowingly employing an illegal worker.
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