Hundreds of care workers from Kerala, India, who migrated to the UK with dreams of a better future, have found themselves victims of a large-scale visa scam. Lured by the promise of stable jobs and financial security, they paid thousands of pounds to recruitment agents and care homes, only to arrive in the UK and realize they had been deceived. Many are now struggling to survive, while others have returned to India in deep financial distress.
Among them is Arun George (name changed), who spent £15,000 ($19,460) from his life savings to secure a UK care worker visa for his wife. The couple, hoping for a brighter future for their special-needs child, made the payment in 2023 to Alchita Care, a domiciliary care home in Bradford, UK. However, when they arrived, they found that there was no real job waiting for them. Despite constant follow-ups, they were given just three days of unpaid training before being left without work. Unable to sustain themselves, they were forced to return home, their financial stability shattered.
Alchita Care, which had recruited multiple workers from Kerala, had its sponsorship licence revoked by the UK Home Office in 2024. However, the damage had already been done. Several other workers who had paid large sums of money to Alchita Care shared similar experiences. One of them, still stranded in the UK, said he had been surviving on charity food, living off “bread and milk” for months.
Sridevi (name changed) is another victim who paid £15,000 for sponsorship, along with an additional £3,000 for travel expenses. Unlike Arun, she remains in the UK, but her situation is dire. She cannot return home due to the shame of borrowing money from family and friends. Instead of the stable eight-hour shifts she was promised, she is on-call for up to 17 hours a day, driving from one patient’s home to another. However, she is only paid for the time she spends with patients, leaving her struggling to afford even basic necessities.
Beyond Alchita Care, other agents and agencies have been accused of running similar scams. One of the biggest names to emerge is Henry Poulos and his agency, Grace International, which operated in both India and the UK. Victims claim Poulos and his team issued fake job offers and sponsorship letters, scamming dozens of hopeful workers. Some were even sent on a 2,500-kilometer journey to Delhi for visa appointments that never existed. The Kothamangalam police have since sealed his local offices, but Poulos is believed to be hiding in the UK.
The problem is widespread, with many victims losing money before they could even leave India. In Kothamangalam alone, 30 people claim to have lost millions of dollars collectively in fraudulent visa schemes. In another case, a woman from Alleppey, borrowed money at 13% interest to pay for her visa, only to receive a fake certificate of sponsorship. Now, she struggles to pay her children’s school fees. another victim, had to withdraw his children from private school after his wife left her well-paying job in Israel, believing they were moving to the UK for better opportunities.
The UK government acknowledged in 2024 that care workers were being exploited through fraudulent visa schemes, with many being paid far below the legal minimum wage. In response, stricter rules were introduced, raising the minimum salary requirements and preventing care workers from bringing their families. Additionally, sponsors are now banned from passing on sponsorship fees to employees—one of the key ways these scams operated. Since July 2022, the UK government has revoked 450 sponsorship licences in the care sector.
Despite these measures, justice remains out of reach for most victims. Many cannot afford legal action due to jurisdictional challenges and high legal costs. Cambridge Mayor Baiju Thittala, who has been advocating for the victims, estimates that 1,000 to 2,000 Keralites in the UK have been affected by such fraudulent schemes.
Meanwhile, Kerala police have promised to work with Interpol if necessary to track down the culprits. However, for those who have already lost everything, justice still feels like a distant dream. What was once a path to a better life has turned into a nightmare, leaving them struggling with debt and despair.
