Nail salon faces heavy fine after illegal workers are discovered by Home Office

A nail salon in Slough could be facing a six figure fine after immigration officers discovered five employees had entered the country illegally.

On Friday, July 29, the Home Office visited JK Nails in the Queensmere Shopping Centre in the High Street, to question workers and to check whether they had the right to live and work in the UK.

They discovered five employees, all from Vietnam, were found to have entered the UK illegally.

A 20-year-old man was arrested and detained pending his removal from the UK, two men aged 22 and 33 were ordered to report regularly to Immigration Enforcement while their cases are progressed and two minors were passed into the care of social services.

In addition, the company was served a notice warning which stated there could a penalty of £20,000 per illegal worker if it could not prove that the correct pre-employment checks were carried out.

This means JK Nails could face a £100,000 fine.

Carla Johnson, Immigration Enforcement assistant director, said: “It is easy for businesses to carry out employment checks and those with appropriate records have nothing to fear from Immigration Enforcement.

“However, those who either knowingly employ immigration offenders or who have a lax attitude towards the legally required checks should expect a visit.  

“Our efforts to tackle illegal working will not stop.

“Using illegal labour is not a victimless crime.

“It defrauds the Treasury, meaning less money is available for vital public services, undercuts honest businesses and cheats legitimate job seekers of employment opportunities.

“We carry out regular operations in Berkshire and those who ignore the rules will face the consequences.

“All of our operations are intelligence-led and I would urge members of the public with detailed and specific information about suspected illegal working to report it to us.”