‘Sham lawyers’ in sights of British home secretary
British home secretary Shabana Mahmood has warned that “sham lawyers” helping migrants make fraudulent asylum claims will face legal action, following a BBC investigation into abuse of the system.
The investigation found that some legal advisers and firms have been charging migrants thousands of pounds to fabricate claims based on sexual orientation.
Britain’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said it was urgently investigating firms named in the BBC report.
It stated that any regulated individuals found to have breached their legal duties would face enforcement action.
According to the BBC exposé, individuals whose visas are about to expire are allegedly coached to pose as gay and to submit false evidence, including staged photographs, letters of support, and medical documentation.
Many of these claims involve applicants stating they would face persecution if returned to countries such as Pakistan or Bangladesh, where same-sex relations are illegal.
The British Home Office has launched an investigation into those identified in the BBC’s reporting, as part of a wider effort to examine what officials describe as a growing trend of fraudulent asylum claims.
Authorities say people applying in this way are often already in Britain on expired student, work or tourist visas, rather than arriving through irregular routes.
This cohort accounted for around 35% of asylum claims in 2025, when total applications exceeded 100,000.
Full force of law
Mahmood said that anyone attempting to exploit protections intended for people fleeing persecution “will find themselves on a one-way flight out of Britain”, adding that those facilitating such claims would face “the full force of the law”.
Britain’s Immigration Advice Authority also said that it was assessing the evidence and would act against anyone providing illegal immigration advice.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the findings exposed “the scam at the heart of many asylum claims” and called for prosecutions.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Will Forster described the situation as “abhorrent” and called for a full investigation into the scale of the issue.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the case highlighted an “illegal immigration industry” and proposed making it a criminal offence to facilitate false asylum claims, with penalties of up to two years in prison.
Incentives for exploitation
Green Party co-leader Zack Polanski criticised inconsistent government policies, saying that they created incentives for exploitation.
Advocates and charities working with LGBT asylum seekers expressed concern that fraudulent claims could undermine genuine cases.
Aderonke Apata, who was granted asylum in Britain due to persecution in Nigeria, said the revelations risked making it harder for legitimate applicants to be believed.
Activists including Peter Tatchell said that most claims were genuine and subject to strict scrutiny, though organisations report an increase in requests for supporting letters from individuals claiming to be LGBT.
Unscrupulous advisers
Charity representatives said vulnerable migrants were also being exploited financially by unscrupulous advisers.
Official data indicate that applicants from Pakistan make up a disproportionately large share of asylum claims based on sexual orientation.
In 2023, they accounted for 42% of such claims, despite representing only 6% of overall asylum applications.
Nearly two-thirds of asylum claims based on sexual orientation were granted at the initial decision stage that year.
The British Home Office investigation is ongoing.