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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Kiran Stacey and Poonam Joshi

‘He didn’t have a contract for me’: the Indian careworkers who paid agents to work in Britain

Akhil Jenny (left) and Geo Ambooken (right): composite blue, black and orange graphic image incorporating images of the two men alongside images of work permits and of a care worker at work.
Akhil Jenny (left) and Geo Ambooken (right) were among those paying for what they believed were immigration services. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/Alamy

Akhil Jenny was living in a small town in southern India, struggling with crippling debts, when a work contact offered him a way out.

“I had some loans which I had taken out for medical care and I couldn’t repay them,” Jenny told the Guardian. “I had a nursing qualification and wanted to come to the UK. That’s what Shinto Sebastian offered me – a well-paid job as a care worker in Britain. It solved all my problems.”

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