Mahmood promises action against 'sham lawyers' abusing asylum system

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has promised that "sham lawyers" who facilitate abuse of the asylum system "will face the full force of the law".

It comes after a BBC investigation revealed how law firms and advisers are charging thousands of pounds to help migrants pretend to be gay in order to stay in the UK.

The Home Office is investigating the individuals highlighted in the BBC's reporting as part of a wider investigation prompted by officials noticing a growing trend of fake claims from people pretending to be gay.

However, the Conservatives said the system "must be totally overhauled" so only those facing real personal persecution are granted asylum.

The BBC has uncovered how migrants whose visas are due to run out are being given fake cover stories and instructed in how to obtain fabricated evidence, including supporting letters, photographs and medical reports.

They then apply for asylum claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if they return to Pakistan or Bangladesh.

The UK's asylum process offers protection to people who cannot return to their home countries because they would be in danger, for example in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh where gay sex is illegal.

But the BBC News investigation reveals the process is being systematically exploited by legal advisers extracting fees from migrants who want to stay in the country.

These are often people whose student, work or tourist visas have expired, rather than those who have just arrived in the country on small boats or through other illegal routes.

This group now makes up 35% of all asylum claims, which topped 100,000 in 2025.

Mahmood said: "Anyone abusing protections for people fleeing persecution over gender or sexual orientation is beyond contempt.

"Let me be clear: try to defraud the British people to enter or remain in the UK and your asylum claim will be refused, your support cut off, and you will find yourself on a one-way flight out of Britain.

"Sham lawyers facilitating this abuse will face the full force of the law."

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said it was urgently following up with all the firms it regulated which were identified in the BBC's reporting.

Jonathan Peddie, executive director of investigations, enforcement and litigation at the SRA, said: "If we find evidence that anyone we regulate has acted in ways that contravene their duty to act legally and uphold the law, we will take action."

Labour MP Jo White, a member of the Commons home affairs select committee, called for the Home Office to stop issuing study visas to people from Pakistan, as it did last month for people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan over what it said was widespread visa abuse.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the BBC's investigation "exposes the scam at the heart of many asylum claims" and the legal advisers identified "should be prosecuted for immigration fraud".

Liberal Democrat immigration and asylum spokesman Will Forster said the BBC's findings were "abhorrent", adding: "We need an asylum system that is fair, controlled and efficient. Not the shambles the Conservatives left us with."

He called on the government to urgently investigate how widespread the issue was.

Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: "This is an outrageous scandal that must be urgently investigated. Any lawyer found to be aiding false asylum claims should face prosecution.

"The Tories created a broken asylum system, riddled with loopholes, that has allowed millions to enter the country. Those loopholes are being exploited through false claims, driven by politically motivated lawyers."

Aderonke Apata, who founded the African Rainbow Family charity, was granted asylum in the UK because she is a lesbian and could have faced the death penalty in Nigeria.

She said she was "appalled" by the BBC's findings, adding: "It dismisses the real struggle that we face as a community.

"And for genuine people who are seeking asylum and LGBTIQ people, this makes it extremely difficult for them to be able to be successful in their asylum claims."

The BBC has been contacted by several LGBT groups who said they had noticed an increasing number of people turning up to meetings who they suspect are making fake gay asylum claims.

Tom Guy, the founder of National Student Pride, said: "We've had people turning up... they take photos and they would leave. They weren't even staying for the event."

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, whose foundation helps people secure asylum on LGBT grounds, said the vast majority of claims were genuine and had gone through "a rigorous criterion".

However, he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme his foundation had been "swamped" by people from Pakistan claiming to be LGBT and seeking letters of recommendation.

Imran Hussain, from the Refugee Council charity, said it was "deplorable that unscrupulous advisers are exploiting desperate and vulnerable people for profit and those responsible must be held to account".

He added: "Every day in our frontline services we work with LGBTQ+ refugees from countries like Uganda and Pakistan who have faced imprisonment, violence and abuse simply for who they are, and who have come to Britain so they can live safely and openly.

"These kinds of abuses must not be used to undermine the credibility of people with genuine need for asylum."

It is difficult to know precisely how many asylum applications might be fabricated.

But Home Office statistics show that Pakistani nationals make up a disproportionate number of the claims made on the grounds of sexuality.

In 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, some 42% of asylum claims with an LGBT element were made by Pakistani nationals and they accounted for the largest number of such claims in each of the five previous years.

In the same year, Pakistani nationals were only the fourth most common nationality for all asylum applications and accounted for just 6% of overall asylum applications.

Nearly two-thirds of asylum seekers claiming persecution on the basis of sexual orientation had their claims granted at the initial stage in 2023.