Care worker detained and removed for illegal working

We have been reading a lot recently about how the Labour Government is being tough on migrants who are or who are deemed to be on the wrong side of the rules and, it would appear, somewhat tougher than its Conservative predecessor. 

As we have reported, earlier this month the Home Office introduced some new and arguably harsh policies about illegal entry to the UK. And, as has been appearing quite regularly in the media recently, they have been energetically removing those from the UK who – as the expression goes – have no legal right to be here. 

We thought that this story gave a useful insight into these sort of issues and also that it had some elements of humour. 

It goes back a while. An Indian national, Ms Ancy Andrews, successfully applied for a health care skilled worker visa. She entered the UK on 8 June 2023 and her job was supposed to start on 1 July 2023. 

But then, on 28 June, something happened which rather upset the applecart: she was discovered by Home Office officials working behind the counter at an off-licence, somewhere in Andover, Hampshire.

This looked very naughty: there are rules about this kind of thing and illegal working and this really did not appear to be on the right side of the rules. But she attempted to justify it by saying that she was just working there as a “volunteer” (ie not getting paid) to help out a friend and therefore it was legal. One of the co-owners of the shop was questioned and apparently he said, rather obscurely, that her working there was just a “technicality”. 

But these arguments evidently did not prevail and poor Ms Andrews was arrested and detained and a removal decision was made to enforce her departure from the UK and of course her visa was cancelled. 

However, she and her lawyers were determined to fight and they applied for judicial review before the High Court. These things take a long time and a court hearing did not happen until December 2024.

But at the long-awaited court hearing things did not go well. The court did not accept that she had been working as a volunteer. They pointed out that volunteering in the legal meaning is restricted to working for a charity, voluntary organisation, fund-raising body or similar, and that an off-licence probably did not qualify as any of these. Also the court noted that her official job had not even started yet, and this may have made it worse. 

The court said that the Home Office’s decisions to cancel her visa, detain and remove her had been lawful and, in the classic language of judicial review, had not been outside the range of reasonable decisions. To put it another way, her working at the off-licence had not been just a “technicality”.

There are many cases like this but of course they do not all reach the courts. If you want advice about such a situation we at GSN will do our best to help you. 

Oliver Westmoreland

Senior Immigration Lawyer