MIGRANTS are spearheading a new campaign against exploitation in visa sponsorship schemes.

Justice for Sponsored Workers uncovers how visa schemes are being used to effectively traffic workers, forcing them into slavery-like conditions. 

Supported by Migrants Rights Network and Migrants at Work, the campaign calls for greater protections to hold sponsors and employers to account.

Threats and a lack of safe reporting mechanisms mean exploitation often goes unreported.

If an employer is investigated and their licence revoked, sponsored workers have just 60 days to find a new employer. 

During this period, migrants have no access to public funds and have to pay for recruitment fees and in some cases a certificate of sponsorship.

Migrants at Work found some workers are paying an average of £17,000 for the certificate.

One sponsored healthcare worker based in Derby said she paid an agent £16,000 when she arrived in 2022, but after a year the employer threatened to cancel the visa because her international driving licence expired.

She was directed to an employer in Nottingham, who took another £8,000 but then said they didn’t have work for her.

“I was so disappointed and stressed that I suffered a stroke in January 2023,” she said. 

“I have paid £24,000, I’m jobless and hunting for jobs every day.”

Kelvin, a sponsored worker on the health and social care visa based in the West Midlands, said the campaign could pave the way for “radical changes in the labour market.” 

He added that it could make it possible for new legislation to be drafted in Parliament against exploitation and inhumane treatment faced by migrant workers, especially in the care sector.

Ake Achi, Migrants at Work founder and director, said: “For too long, employers with sponsorship licences are breaching their existing compliance terms and are becoming embroiled in trafficking situations. 

“This migrant-led campaign has been a long time coming and I am hopeful that, with sponsored migrant workers speaking truth to power, we can finally start to tackle the root causes of exploitation of migrants.”