Immigrants have been given skilled worker visas sponsored by 56 kebab houses, 83 businesses with “Halal” in their name, and one butcher alone sponsored 918 visas, GB News can reveal.
In an exclusive documentary, premiering for GBN Members, we explore how immigration has changed cities across Britain, including the city of Bradford.
Our film reveals data from a Freedom of Information Request (FOI), submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), which found several examples of halal and kebab shops sponsoring dozens of skilled worker visas between 2021 and 2023.
Matthew Goodwin, the author and academic, told GB News that Britain is in a “population trap”, meaning “the rate of our population growth is so great it exceeds the capacity of the state to provide public services”.
“If you’re looking around Britain and you’re thinking, well, this is suddenly looking rather shabby and nothing seems to be working, that’s because we’ve entered what is called a population trap,” Mr Goodwin said.
He continued: “Why is the NHS not working? Why are schools looking rundown and terrible? Why can’t we control the borders? Why is our economy flatlining? No growth, masses of debt, no productivity. Because we’re in a population trap. It’s just nobody in Westminster wants to admit it.”
GB News went to Bradford to speak with locals and migrants about their views on immigration.
A Bradford resident says kebab work is not skilled
One resident, who legally migrated to Britain from Pakistan in 1994, said he did not believe working in kebab shops is skilled work, telling this broadcaster: “When I came here I didn’t even know how to cook an egg.
“But I know everything now… I don’t believe that this is a highly skilled job.”
Other locals expressed disbelief that kebab workers are given skilled visas. “I don’t think it’s right,” one added.
According to the government’s website, butchers and chefs are eligible professions to acquire a skilled worker visa.
Call centre supervisors, bar managers, personnel managers, and gym instructors are among other jobs which can qualify as skilled under the government’s visa scheme.
Robert Bates, research director of the Centre for Migration Control, told GB News: “The Home Office has allowed businesses to act as visa mills, turning their back on Brits and bringing in low-skilled individuals from outside Europe.”
“There is no economic reason for us to import overseas chefs, butchers or call centre staff, and the social costs of us doing so are huge.”
“Five years working in their friend’s business and these individuals then qualify for benefits and are put on the fast-track for citizenship. The whole process has become a racket.”
Robert Bates of the Centre for Migration Control
Data from the FOI reveals that across the country kebab shops and Asian restaurants sponsored more than a dozen visas each.
One kebab house in Bradford sponsored 14 visas, while another in Birmingham sponsored 12.
Some locals in Bradford were supportive of immigration, and unconcerned about skilled workers going to people working in kebab houses.
One local praised Bradford’s diversity, saying: “Everybody here accepts one another for who they are and what they are.”
Ben Habib, former deputy leader of the Reform Party, said: “We call ourselves a welcoming nation. That we are to a fault.”
“On the altar of mass migration and diversity we have turned halal into a “skilled” and needed profession. Cue: the importation of foreign butchers to kill animals inhumanely.”
“There is no need for this “skill” or the people that practice this butchery in the UK.”
In January Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, who was Home Secretary under Boris Johnson’s leadership, defended her record on migration, saying her government let in the “brightest and the best” into the country on skilled visas.
Legal migration reached record levels under the previous Conservative government, peaking at 1.2 million in 2023.
337,240 work visas were granted to immigrants in 2023, of which nearly 200,000 were skilled visas.
The overwhelming majority of these visas were given to non-EU migrants.
Critics argue that the skilled worker visa scheme has been exploited by businesses looking for cheaper labor rather than addressing shortages in high-skill industries.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that despite record levels of legal migration, many Britons remain unemployed or economically inactive, raising concerns over whether the visa system is benefiting the domestic workforce.
A report published by the Migration Advisory Committee in late 2023 found that employers in certain sectors had become overly reliant on foreign workers due to lower wages and reluctance to invest in training UK staff.
The report stated: “Businesses have, in some cases, found it more expedient to sponsor overseas workers rather than improve wages or conditions for domestic employees.”
Some industry leaders, however, have defended the use of skilled worker visas, arguing that certain sectors would struggle without foreign labor.
The British Poultry Council has previously warned that the UK’s meat-processing industry is heavily dependent on migrant workers, with many roles difficult to fill locally.
However, others dispute the necessity of such visas, claiming that many of the roles now classified as “skilled” do not meet the original intent of the visa scheme.
Migration Watch UK, a think tank which campaigns for lower immigration, argues that the current system is too lenient, allowing relatively low-wage jobs to qualify under the “skilled” category.
A spokesperson for the group stated: “When the government first introduced the skilled worker visa, it was meant to bring in doctors, engineers, and high-level specialists. Instead, we’re seeing fast-food outlets and butchers sponsoring dozens of visas. This is an abuse of the system.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is under new leadership, and Kemi Badenoch has been clear that migration levels in this country have been far too high.
“It is why Kemi and the Conservative Party have begun setting out a plan to bring these levels down, including a strict numerical cap on migration numbers, and changing the rules on Indefinite Leave to Remain to make sure that British citizenship is treated as a privilege, not an automatic right.”
“With the Labour Party throwing our borders wide open, it is clear only the Conservatives can be trusted to bring the numbers down.”