CHENNAI: Saravanan’s dream of living the UK came crashing down when he received an email from the British embassy stating that he was banned from applying for a visa for 10 years. Unaware that he was a victim of a job scam by a consultancy firm based in Hyderabad, Saravanan was stunned as his wife had just moved to London for work.
Now, he is unable to go to UK with their two children and his wife is can’t come back since she has signed a three-year contract with the UK employer. S Saravanan, 44, is a dentist hailing from Chennai. For the past several years, Saravanan and his wife were seeking employment opportunities in the UK.
After much consideration, in June 2022, Saravanan reached out to Riyan Visas and Immigration Consultancy in Hyderabad. “The consultancy informed me that they will arrange a job and also take care of the visa process. By November they sent me a certificate of sponsorship from a popular hospital in Sidmouth in England.
The certificate looked legit and the consultancy informed me that they immediately applied for the visa process,” says Saravanan. However, 10 days later, the firm informed Saravanan that the embassy has rejected the visa and that they will try once again. However, in hindsight, Saravanan mentioned that the consultancy was not available over-call all the time and that they insisted on meeting directly.
Since the firm was non-responsive, the couple used their contacts and Saravanan’s wife landed a job in London. In May, after she left for London, she applied for a dependent visa to bring Saravanan and their two daughters. “I was shocked when we received the email from the embassy. They had banned me from applying for a visa to the UK for 10 years since the consultancy provided a fake certificate of sponsorship.
After repeated queries we found that the applicant is solely responsible for all documents produced and not the consultancy,” says Saravanan. He added that he wants people to be more aware before going through consultancies and also go through the visa process carefully. The UK embassy also told Saravanan that they had already issued a detailed mail regarding the ban to the consultancy in November 2022 and the latter hid the matter from him.
“The worst part is my wife cannot come back to India for the next three years because of the contract and I cannot go there too. With two daughters, aged 17 and 12, the family is in a state of peril. I only wish the same doesn’t befall others,” said Saravanan. Dejected over the issue, Saravanan reached Hyderabad to question the consultancy members when he found about 70 people around their office.
He later learnt that several people were cheated similarly by the consultancy. “After an FIR was filed with the central crime station of Hyderabad Police, the suspects escaped,” said Saravanan. The FIR copy mentioned that the agents had conned the people to the tune of Rs 4 lakh - Rs 30 lakh. They even arranged a visa for a woman techie and promised to find her a job once she reaches London. After she landed in UK, the agents went dark and with no contact and money, her father took loans to bring her back, said the FIR.