The Home Office has warned that local businesses dodging strict immigration laws are leaving vulnerable staff open to exploitation.
Raj Hundal, the Home Office lead for immigration enforcement licensing compliance, told Exeter councillors that businesses offering people the chance to work illegally encouraged people to break the country’s immigration laws.
“Illegal working leads to businesses not playing by the rules,” he told members of the city council’s licensing sub-committee as they met to decide on the premises licence for the Curry King restaurant in Heavitree Road.
The Home Office had applied for the licence to be revoked after an Immigration Compliance Enforcement (ICE) team swooped on the curry house in April last year and found two illegal workers.
The company behind the restaurant was handed a £45,000 civil penalty which has not yet been paid.
The head chef had told the ICE officers he worked there six hours a day, six days a week and received just £50 in cash from the owner. A second worker ran away and later denied working at Curry King. He said he was just there to eat.
Principal licensing officer Nigel Marston told the meeting the restaurant had failed to meet the licensing objective of preventing crime and disorder by allowing illegal working.
He said the two people currently named as licence holders had not been involved in the business for around 15 years, and the current owner was happy to surrender the licence.
And, he said, the current food business operator had not been there at the time of the Home Office visit. The one who was had ‘disappeared off the face of the planet’.
Mr Hundal told the meeting: “The ability to work illegally is a key driver of illegal immigration. It encourages people to break immigration laws.
“It encourages people to take risks trying to enter the UK, and leaves those people vulnerable to exploitative employers.”
He said the visit to Curry King had come as a result of intelligence received about potential illegal working happening there. One of the workers was a long-term illegal entrant to the country while the other was a visitor who had overstayed his visa.
“The business operator could easily have prevented crime and disorder taking place,” he added. “If he had done a right-to-work check, they would have failed.
”A revocation of the licence is the most proportionate option.”
Members of the committee will publish their decision within five working days.
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