Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how immigration records are used alongside information held by other government departments to identify potential breaches of visa conditions.

UKVI uses HMRC data as part of a broader intelligence driven compliance approach to help identify potential concerns about sponsor compliance. HMRC information provides an initial indicator of whether sponsored workers appear to be receiving the salary recorded on their Certificate of Sponsorship and helps target compliance resources towards cases that may require further examination.

Where concerns are identified, UKVI undertakes further investigation, which may include consideration of additional intelligence, engagement with partner agencies, requests for documentary evidence and, where appropriate, compliance visits or audits. We recognise that HMRC data has limitations and therefore potential discrepancies identified through HMRC checks are subject to manual assessment and further investigation before compliance action is considered.