window.dotcom = window.dotcom || { cmd: [] }; window.dotcom.ads = window.dotcom.ads || { resolves: {enabled: [], getAdTag: []}, enabled: () => new Promise(r => window.dotcom.ads.resolves.enabled.push(r)), getAdTag: () => new Promise(r => window.dotcom.ads.resolves.getAdTag.push(r)) }; setTimeout(() => { if(window.dotcom.ads.resolves){ window.dotcom.ads.resolves.enabled.forEach(r => r(false)); window.dotcom.ads.resolves.getAdTag.forEach(r => r("")); window.dotcom.ads.enabled = () => new Promise(r => r(false)); window.dotcom.ads.getAdTag = () => new Promise(r => r("")); console.error("NGAS load timeout"); } }, 5000)
Skip to content

Migrant workers 'in limbo' over employer licence crackdown

Meghan Owen
Work & Money Correspondent, BBC London
BBC Jamil is pictured from behind looking out at a park which has a lake and gravel paths. Trees are in the background.BBC
Bengali careworker Jamil said he applied for "hundreds of jobs" with no luck after his company lost its licence

"I've lost everything. Every day I'm stressed."

Jamil, a migrant worker from Bangladesh, says he has been left stranded and in limbo after being exploited and then abandoned by a company who recruited him to help fulfil the UK's shortage of care workers.

Following a crackdown from the government, the company he had been working for lost its licence to employ foreign workers.

Now the 30-year-old does not know what to do.

He's not alone - figures obtained to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act show the number of times a company had its sponsor licence revoked in the UK rose from 336 in 2023 to 1,514 in 2024 - a rise of 350%. Over a third were in London.

The effect has meant migrant workers have been "pushed into destitution", the t Council for the Welfare of Immigrants told the BBC, adding that it had seen a huge increase in people seeking their services.

'I paid for payslips'

Jamil - not his real name - was approached by the company, which the BBC is not naming, after he completed a business masters degree in the UK.

"I saw there was a shortage in care workers in the country and I thought I could give something to this country," he said.

He completed training, reference checks, and received a visa through the company.

But the work never followed.

"I had to wait six months," he said.

"From the beginning, they were wasting time. If they don't have jobs, why are they recruiting us? I felt something fishy was going on."

Jamil said he felt he was exploited by the company as he gave them cash, which he borrowed from friends and family, in return for payslips of less monetary value in order to "keep his documents up to date".

Screenshot of a whats app conversation where Jamil is asking if the licences have been revoked to which his employed said yes. He then sends several messages asking what was happening.
The company ignored Jamil after the licence had been revoked

After finding out the company's licence had been taken away, the company stopped ing him.

"I've applied for hundreds of jobs but it's so much stress. I've lost everything," he said.

He has not received a curtailment notice - a document which formally indicates the Home Office is cancelling or shortening a visa before its original expiry date.

"Every day I wake up and wonder if I've got any email from them. I can't explain the stress. It's been more than a year. Sometimes I think I should go back home but what could I do from there":[]}