Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf has highlighted the abuse of Britain’s work-visa system after a Derby takeaway was reportedly assigned 76 Certificates of Sponsorship in a single year.
“Let me introduce you to ‘UzMania Grill, Dessert and Shisha’ in Derby,” Yusuf said. “The business was founded in 2021. They sell pizzas, kebabs, wings and wraps.”
Despite operating as a fast-food restaurant and shisha lounge, Yusuf said the company “hold[s] a certificate to sponsor ‘Skilled Worker’ visas”.
“In 2023 it was assigned SEVENTY SIX Certificates of Sponsorship,” he said. “In just a single year.”
Yusuf said that the Derby business was far from an isolated example.
“Countless similar businesses - barbers, fast-food shops and dessert parlours - also held certificates to sponsor so-called skilled workers,” he said.
“Is slicing shawarma what comes to mind when you think of high-skilled labour?”
Yusuf said the case exposed the gulf between the Conservatives’ promises on controlled, skills-based immigration and the system they ultimately created.
“The Tories told us they were bringing in the ‘brightest and best’ to fill skills shortages,” he said.
“And make no mistake, it was the Tories that created this mad system. That’s what the Boriswave was.”
Reform UK would end the era of businesses routinely importing cheaper overseas labour through broadly drawn work-visa routes.
Under a Reform government, shortage visas would be issued only in limited and tightly capped numbers where there was clear evidence of an acute shortage in a nationally critical role.
Businesses sponsoring an overseas worker would also be required to train a British worker, ensuring immigration could not be used as a permanent substitute for investing in the domestic workforce.
That would mean visas being reserved for genuine national needs - not used to staff an apparently endless expansion of takeaways, barber shops and dessert parlours.
“Let me introduce you to ‘UzMania Grill, Dessert and Shisha’ in Derby,” Yusuf said. “The business was founded in 2021. They sell pizzas, kebabs, wings and wraps.”
Despite operating as a fast-food restaurant and shisha lounge, Yusuf said the company “hold[s] a certificate to sponsor ‘Skilled Worker’ visas”.
“In 2023 it was assigned SEVENTY SIX Certificates of Sponsorship,” he said. “In just a single year.”
Yusuf said that the Derby business was far from an isolated example.
“Countless similar businesses - barbers, fast-food shops and dessert parlours - also held certificates to sponsor so-called skilled workers,” he said.
“Is slicing shawarma what comes to mind when you think of high-skilled labour?”
Yusuf said the case exposed the gulf between the Conservatives’ promises on controlled, skills-based immigration and the system they ultimately created.
“The Tories told us they were bringing in the ‘brightest and best’ to fill skills shortages,” he said.
“And make no mistake, it was the Tories that created this mad system. That’s what the Boriswave was.”
Reform UK would end the era of businesses routinely importing cheaper overseas labour through broadly drawn work-visa routes.
Under a Reform government, shortage visas would be issued only in limited and tightly capped numbers where there was clear evidence of an acute shortage in a nationally critical role.
Businesses sponsoring an overseas worker would also be required to train a British worker, ensuring immigration could not be used as a permanent substitute for investing in the domestic workforce.
That would mean visas being reserved for genuine national needs - not used to staff an apparently endless expansion of takeaways, barber shops and dessert parlours.
