The BBC investigation has found widespread immigration scams targeting foreign nationals employed in the UK nursing sector, where recruiters, including Nigerian doctors, are exposed to exploiting vulnerable groups.
The agency has been raising the attention of authorities by illegally selling non-existent jobs and creating fake payroll systems to cover up their fraudulent activities, the investigation shows.
Dr. Kelvin Alaneme, the Nigerian doctor and founder of Caiveveredu, an agency in Essex, is the center of the scam. The BBC’s secret journalist makes a living with potential business partners and can see how these scams work. Dr Alaneme claims that recruiting nursing homes can make agents rich, providing £2,000 ($2,600) payments for each vacancies they can procure, plus a commission of £500 ($650). He then explained how the vacancies were sold to Nigerian candidates and accused them of holding positions that did not exist.
At a secret meeting, Dr Alaneme said: “Just give me a nursing home. I can make you a millionaire.” Later admitted that, despite being illegal in the UK, candidates were still paying for their jobs. “They shouldn’t pay for it because it’s free. It should be free,” he said, acknowledging exploitation, but asserting that the candidate felt forced to pay due to lack of legal opportunities.
One of the victims praised a man from southeast Nigeria who paid Dr Alaneme more than £10,000 ($13,000) a job in the UK and owned a nursing company called “Efficiency Care”. Upon arrival in the UK, Praise found that the work was fabricated. “If I knew there was no job, I wouldn’t be here.” “At least I’m back home in Nigeria, if you go bankrupt I can find my sister or parents to eat free food. It’s different here. You’ll be hungry.”
The BBC survey also showed that between March 2022 and May 2023, the company’s efficiency was informed, and the company’s compliments were told that the company would work for him, but issued more than 1,200 sponsorship certificates (COS) to foreign workers between March 2022 and May 2023, although the company hired only 16 employees in 2022 and 15 in 2023. Nursing Efficiency denies any collusion with Dr. Alaneme and says its recruitment process is legal. It has since challenged the Home Office’s decision to revoke its permit in court.
In addition, the investigation exposed more complex scams, including fake sponsored documents, for non-existent work. Dr Alaneme claims that COS files that are not related to actual work allow immigrants to choose their location in the UK, although this is wrong. Immigrants are required to take the role assigned to them to maintain a visa, and not doing so can lead to deportation. Dr. Alaneme also explained how to create a fake payroll system to mask the lack of actual work, saying: [a money trail] It is what the government needs to see. ”
The BBC also investigated another recruitment agent, Nana Akwasi Agyemang-Prempeh, who provided fake COS for work in the construction industry after the care industry tightened its rules. Agyemang-Prempeh allegedly set up his own construction company and obtained a sponsorship license from the Ministry of Home Affairs to facilitate the scam, charging up to £42,000 ($54,000) for three workers. A secret reporter from the BBC pretended to be a businessman who wanted to recruit construction workers from Uganda and was told that such arrangements could be made at a cost.
After the investigation, the Ministry of Home Affairs revoked Agyemang-Prempeh’s sponsorship license. The Home Office issued a statement pledging “strong new actions against shameless employers who abuse the visa system” and “ban businesses that violate UK employment laws from sponsoring overseas workers”.
Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Center for Right to Work, alerted the scale of the problem. “The scale of exploitation under the health and nursing work visa is huge,” Vichol said. “It has become a national crisis.” Vichol noted that the sponsorship system that empowers employers important powers creates predatory markets for middlemen and leads to systematic development.
The BBC investigation follows a similar report, which is a visa scam targeting Kerala, Indian people and international students seeking work in nursing departments in the UK. In response, in November 2024, the UK government announced a crackdown on “rogue” employers, and from April 9, 2025, nursing staff in England will be asked to prioritize recruiting international nursing staff in the UK before seeking recruits from overseas.
