Migrants are falsely claiming to be victims of domestic abuse in order to stay in the country, exploiting rules brought in to expedite the process of securing permanent residence for genuine abuse victims
A investigation has found that legal advisers are encouraging some to make up abuse allegations. One of those advisers, Eli Ciswaka, encouraged a reporter to make false allegations of domestic abuse – saying that he would fabricate the claim for £900, creating a story to tell the Home Office in order to secure the client’s status in the UK.
Ciswaka did not respond to a written request for comment, but during a phone call to tell him about our investigation he denied being willing to make up a story that the undercover reporter had been a victim of domestic abuse.
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding in the Home Office, said that the abuse of rules around domestic abuse victims was “unacceptable” and that “sham lawyers facilitating this advice abuse will be put behind bars.”
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