Migrants making false domestic abuse claims to stay in UK, BBC investigation finds

Migrants are mistakenly claiming to be victims of domestic violence in order to stay in the country, according to a BBC investigation.

They are using laws introduced by ministers to assist genuine victims of abuse to obtain permanent residence more quickly than through other avenues, such as asylum.

Inadequate Home Office checks are allowing them to do so on the basis of little evidence, according to lawyers, although their unsuspecting British partners have had their lives turned upside down by the false allegations.

The latest complaints regarding how these benefits, known as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, are being exploited are the first to be highlighted by a BBC inquiry into the visa system.

Since moving to the United Kingdom, we can tell how some migrants, both male and female, are duping British partners into marriage, then making false domestic abuse allegations.

Others are being encouraged to fabricate abuse reports by online legal advisors.

One advisor advised a BBC undercover reporter that he should make inaccurate charges of domestic violence.

The number of people who have claimed fast-track residency on the basis of domestic violence has now hit more than 5,500 a year, up more than 50% in less than three years.

In one case, a British mother who had left her male partner after he had reported him for rape was subsequently charged with domestic violence, owing to a false accusation, she says, because he continued to live in the country.

The allegations were never proved, but the partner has been able to use them to avoid having to return to Pakistan.

£900 to fabricate claims

A young immigration consultant in a smart suit is speaking with a client in St Pancras, London, in late February. He was called a few days earlier by a new client, a recent Pakistani immigrant. The guy explained that he had a problem: he wanted to leave his British wife to live with his mistress. However, his visa is linked to his marriage; if he separates, he will have to leave the country. Eli Ciswaka, the advisor, had been quick to suggest a solution on the first phone call.

He told the prospective client that he was the perpetrator of domestic assault if prompted. Now he tells what he's going to do. He will fabricate the tale for £900, giving the Home Office a tale to tell in order to guarantee the client's status in the United Kingdom. What he doesn't know is that his client is actually a BBC undercover reporter investigating how certain lawyers and immigration consultants are assisting migrants in breaking the rules by staging stories for them to obtain indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

Migrants who are the victims of domestic violence and who are on temporary visas in the United Kingdom as the spouse of British citizens can request a special waiver under Home Office regulations. Since these migrants are often dependent on their visa but also for their food and accommodation, the concession provides assistance to those whose families' marriages have broken down as a result of violence or abuse.

If the petition is successful, they will be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom for three months and claim benefits. During the three months, they can then apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK, when foreign nationals are allowed to live, work, and study in the United Kingdom permanently without time limitations. This is much faster than other routes to permanent residence, such as asylum.

Anyone who lives and works in the United Kingdom on a visa will usually have to wait at least five years before applying for permanent leave to remain. Experts told us that they were worried that these laws were open to abuse because of how quickly such status can be granted. So we decided to investigate. Ciswaka, who uses the word 'Corporate Immigration UK', often posts on social media about the domestic abuse deal and boasts of the successes he has had for clients seeking advice via this route. During a meeting at the St Pancras Hotel, he discusses how he can convince the Home Office.

What evidence are you going to use because she doesn't hit me or anything?

our reporter wondered. Orally, Ciswaka replied. You two have been fighting over it; she's been saying, 'I'm the one who brought you here.' In the interview, he shared more about his scheme. He said he would portray the situation as psychological domestic assault, as

when someone is playing with your mind. He told our reporter that he would not worry about writing a story about him. He had worked on other cases.

How many were successful? the reporter asked. All of them,

Ciswaka replied. To prove it, he showed the reporter a Home Office letter sent to him on behalf of a client. Their application was accepted, according to the company, although it was not clear if the lawsuit was based on credible domestic harassment charges.

Ciswaka is neither a licensed solicitor nor a qualified immigration specialist, implying that it would be unlawful for him to give immigration advice or services. However, the letter revealed that the Home Office had been sharing official correspondence with him about paying customers, apparently without checking his credentials. Ciswaka told our reporter what would happen next.

You will go live with the girlfriend after we submit this one because you will get three months of limited leave to keep, he said. You will have to request indefinite leave to remain

during the three-months limited leave to continue.

He told the reporter not to be concerned with the consequences if he accused his wife of insulting him, but that she would not be affected.

She will not be interrogated, she will not have been arrested because there is no crime,

she says.

Ciswaka did not respond to a written request for comment, but during a phone call to inform him of our probe, he denied being able to relay a tale that the undercover journalist had been a victim of domestic violence. The Immigration Advice Authority, which regulates the sector, said it will

Investigate and act promptly to identify those responsible for wrongdoing and take prompt enforcement steps. Our message to the public is clear," Immigration Services Commissioner Gaon Hart said. "We recommend registered consultants only; anything else puts you at a serious risk.

'Dirty money'

According to statistics published by BBC News using the Freedom of Information Act, a total of 5,596 migrants applied for indefinite leave to remain as the victims of domestic violence in the 12 months leading up to September 2025, the first time for which there is data. Around a quarter of applications – 1,424 of them – were made by women, up 66% compared to the same period two years ago, with the number of women applicants increasing by 47%.

Some have been concerned that male and female migrants who make up allegations are manipulating the rules. Victims of false charges have pleaded that their partners made inaccurate reports to the police, resulting in a crime report that was later used as evidence to sue the Home Office, despite the fact that no action was taken.

A criminal reference number on its own, according to the Home Office, is not meant to show that domestic harassment has occurred. Some victims have reported their abuse to domestic violence charities and used that as confirmation or obtained a non-molestation court order against their partner, which can be obtained ex parte, implying that the victim did not know. An internal Home Office investigation more than a decade ago

identified the possibility of abuse of the domestic violence route to settlement. A year later, a study by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration discovered issues with checks being carried out by officials on domestic abuse allegations and excessive weight being applied to

unverified facts

such as letters from support agencies that just repeated an accused perpetrator's own account of what happened.

Understanding abuse of this route, which shields genuine victims from domestic violence's destruction, is deeply regrettable.

Jess Phillips, the Home Office's minister, said. I have personally witnessed the deplorable effects of this sort of underhanded tactic.

Let me be clear: try to defraud the British people to stay in the UK, and your application will be turned down, and you will land on a one-way flight out of Britain. "Sham lawyers assisting in this misconduct will be put in jail, and their dirty money confiscated will be returned to start the offence they once supported.

'He was promising the world.'

As she was warned by one of her own constituents, Phillips' heart is close to being concerned about this topic. During the pandemic, Aisha, not her real name, met her ex-husband on a Muslim dating app and started a whirlwind romance.

He was promising the world, proper love bombing me.

I was buying things as well, trying to get me to fall in love with him as quickly as possible.

she says. Aisha's marriage soured after an Islamic wedding and a formal event. She says he didn't have British citizenship when they first met, but that he was actually dependent on her for his visa as a Pakistani national.

He became fully controlling and very abusive.

He started requesting a baby in the United States,

she says.

I think his coworkers at the time were telling him that you should have a baby to protect yourself here. So he was trying to get me pregnant. And that included, unfortunately, rape as well.

She left the marital home and reported what had happened both to the police and the Home Office. Officials then wrote to him and said his visa would expire without the help of his spouse. "I think once he got that curtailment letter, he was sure there was no way out, and they're advising me to leave, so I'm going to do something.

From victim to perpetrator

She says his answer was to go to the police and inform them that he was the perpetrator of domestic violence, not her. He told officers that she and her family had coerced him to do so, and that she had been physically abusive as well.

Oh, don't be concerned, I've found many ways to remain here right before he gave the domestic violence report.

I don't need you to stay in the country, she says. I was being served by the authorities, and I was being supported by domestic violence companies right before he was accused of domestic assault. It was heartbreaking for him to turn the story around and say he is a murderer.

Aisha says that the police never took any action against her in connection with her ex-partner's allegations. He also didn't face rape charges because she changed her mind about whether or not to promote a lawsuit. However, Aisha was given more than £17,000 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, who found that the sexual assault she had alleged was more likely than not to have occurred.

Aisha says her ex-husband's struggle against her did not stop there. She was arrested by the police in January 2023 after making another accusation against her. She claims she spent eight hours away from her baby when she was breastfeeding at the time because her daughter was allergic to formula milk.

I breastfed my baby when I left, she says. I wanted to die, my life, when I returned home. Jess Phillips, her mother, wrote to officers that day, saying,

I do not believe she would have been arrested unless [police] had been aware of the relationship between her and her ex-partner. The Birmingham Yardley MP continued to apply pressure and, after becoming a Home Office minister, Aisha was advised by Aishe to forward any details to the Home Office, who said she would follow up. Aisha told us,

The Home Office is allowing this to happen. "They allowed him to continue this behaviour. Because of the Home Office, I've lived through four years of hell.

'Turned upside down'

Aisha is far from the only British national he has encountered who has been wrongly accused of domestic violence by their migrant partner for reasons having to do with their visa, according to Jabran Hussain, a criminal lawyer based in Bradford. He claims he has seen some of his clients' lives turned upside down, though the individual causing the allegations

may still get a settlement because of the visa laws, it is not necessary to have a conviction. He said that although the requirements on migrant spouses to obtain permanent leave to remain are usually onerous, such as establishing English language tests and paying fees, do not extend under the domestic abuse exception.

This route was well-intended, and it was there to safeguard some of the most vulnerable in society – victims of domestic violence, Hussain said. But I suspect there are people out there who see it as either legitimate for their own gain or to get a settlement here quickly.

In parliament, fears of how the rules are being exploited have also been raised. Robbie Moore, the West Yorkshire Conservative MP, said he was seeing what he described as a

worry

pattern of spouses who had recently arrived in the UK making false allegations against their partners living in his Keighley constituency in November 2024.

Some of the allegations of domestic violence are now being made as early as a few weeks into the claimants' arrival in the UK, both by men and women, he told MPs. I am afraid that even in loving relationships, a suspicion of domestic assault is being used by certain individuals to expedite citizenship or avoid the fees that must be paid to apply for settled status or visa extension.