The Hindu : International / India & World : Nurses from India among 'victims of visa scam'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 25, 2004

International

International - India & World

Nurses from India among 'victims of visa scam'

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JUNE 24. Hundreds of nurses from developing countries, including India, come to Britain every year in search of better career prospects only to discover that they have been "conned," according to the country's biggest public service union, Unison.

It has said that they are lured into Britain by "unscrupulous'' employment agencies with work permits, promising them full-time employment, and then placed in low-paid jobs in private clinics or care homes.

They are reportedly forced to work long hours for a "pittance''— and often their "duties'' include cleaning, cooking and doing the laundry.

The British embassies and high commissions in the Philippines, India and Africa are being conned into issuing student visas to qualified nurses who, in turn, are led to believe that on the strength of their work permit they will be entitled to work full-time, Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said.

The fact, he said, is that a student visa allows them to work only for 20 hours a week, and without a proper employment visa their work permits are "not worth the paper they are written on.'' Overseas nurses find themselves working illegally for upto 60 hours a week to supplement their income and pay off the "placement'' fee of employment agents.

"The scandal is that they are so scared that they will be kicked out of the country (that they do not complain),'' Mr. Prentis said. He accused the British Government of not doing anything to stop the "scam."

One male nurse from the Philippines was reported as saying that he was promised a full-time job but "ended up sleeping on an old mattress on the floor of a walk-in closet in a private nursing home."

The Home Office has promised to look into how qualified overseas nurses come to Britain.

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