A man paid £6,000 for his Indian passport to be endorsed with a forged five-year visa, so he could remain illegally in the country, a court heard.
Hiteshkumar Patel, who was jailed for six months, came to the UK legitimately in 2007 on a two-year holiday working visa. When it expired, instead of taking steps to renew the visa through official channels he paid a man – who claimed to be a solicitor - to arrange a fake one, Leicester Crown Court was told. He claimed he met the man, who arranged the forgery, at a friend's house in Leicester, in 2009.
Patel paid half the money up front and the second half after the visa was placed into his passport.
Alan Murphy, prosecuting, said that Patel came unstuck in June 2014 when the forged visa expired and he formally applied for a genuine visa to remain in the UK, submitting his passport. The fake documentation was discovered by the immigration authorities.
Patel, of Halkin Street, Belgrave, Leicester, admitted possessing a false identity document with improper intent and dishonestly attempting to obtain leave to remain in the UK. When arrested, Patel told officials he thought the forged visa was genuine.
Sentencing, Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: "Most people would know you don't get visas in someone's front room and pay that kind of money. From that day on you knew you'd done wrong. Once you'd obtained that endorsement you continued with your employment. I accept you've always worked and paid taxes, but it was work you shouldn't have been doing during those five years, because you weren't legitimately here."
Judge Mooncey said he had read a letter from Keith Vaz MP - whom Patel sought advice from - which stated the defendant wanted to return voluntarily to India.
The judge added: "These documents are very important because they help determine where people can live. I am not going to suspend the sentence, what's needed is a deterrent sentence to discourage others from behaving in the way you did."
Patel, 36, initially found work with an agency in Leicester and later worked Blueberry Foods, in Leicester Forest East, who were unaware of his illegal status.
