Pretending to be gay, false domestic abuse claims and faking relationships with their prime minister's daughter: The 'scripts' migrants are using to claim asylum in Britain

Thousands of asylum seekers are making bogus claims in an attempt to stay in Britain involving shared partners, VIP connections and generic political dissident scripts.Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds have allegedly tried to claim asylum because they are all apparently in a relationship with the same daughter of the Kurdish prime minister.Scores of Pakistani men also suggest they cannot go home because they are in a gay relationship with the same man, who provides letters supporting their claims.Claims regularly feature photos from London gay sauna Legs 800 Club, which shut last year, of Pakistani men standing topless with each other to prove they are gay.Large numbers of Bangladeshi claimants also say they are political dissidents, but seem to have little significant knowledge about the party they are said to support.The repetitive details included across applications were revealed by a former Home Office insider who claimed today that only one in 100 asylum seekers is genuine.The whistleblower, who worked for years assessing and approving thousands of claims, said the entire process had been abused and turned into 'a massive fraud'.The claims come just months after legal advisers were caught by undercover reporters telling asylum seekers to pretend to be homosexual to stay in the UK. Migrants try to cross the English Channel on a small boat at Hardelot-Plage in France in July A BBC investigation in April exposed a shadowy network of asylum experts charging up to £7,000 to coach migrants on how to be more successful in their applications.The advisers were also revealed to be providing clients with cover stories and telling them how to falsify evidence, including photos from LGBT nightclubs.The migrants would claim asylum on the basis they risked being persecuted if they returned to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where homosexual acts are illegal.Other migrants were found to be falsely claiming to be victims of domestic abuse at the hands of their unsuspecting British partners, so they could stay in the UK.Another route involved pretending to be an atheist by making social media posts insulting Islam before using any threat to kill as evidence to support an application that they are at risk.The Daily Mail has also covered some unusual examples of reasons to stay so far this year, in rulings from the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.One just last month saw Sudanese woman Isra Abdallah Ibrahim allowed to stay in the UK because she is married to her cousin, having initially been refused asylum.In another case in April, an Iranian migrant who tried to burn down his home won a reprieve against deportation because he is 'so profoundly mentally unwell' and threatened to take his own life.Earlier that month, Portuguese woman Joana Calcada was told she could stay in the UK despite being jailed for drug dealing after a court found that deportation would be harsh on her son - despite him not even living with her.In March, Nepalese schizophrenic Sumit Rai was allowed to stay in the UK despite having multiple convictions after it was ruled he would be a 'danger to himself and society' if deported. It comes after the Home Office whistleblower condemned the current system.He told The Times: 'There's almost no aspect of the asylum system that isn't either a massive fraud or just really dysfunctional.'The former employee said claimants underwent only a brief screening initially, followed by a more substantial interview by officials months later.'This gives them time to prepare, time to get advice, time to see exactly what fake evidence they can get before committing to a story at full interview.'He also said there was a bias towards green-lighting claims, which would only take minutes, as opposed to rejecting an application – which could take hours.Officials denying asylum would be expected to respond to every claim made by the applicant, the man said.In response, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'Only 1 per cent of asylum claims are actually genuine. Many make the same claims, advised by the same lawyers.'We need to implement the Conservative plan to end this scam - no asylum claims by illegal immigrants and leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) so we can deport them on arrival.'We are being taken for fools by illegal immigrants and their enabling lawyers.'Pakistan accounted for the largest number of claimants stating to be gay or bisexual, according to a 2024 Home Office study.In the 12 months to June, the most common nationalities claiming asylum were Pakistani (10 per cent), Eritrean (8 per cent), Iranian (8 per cent), Sudanese (7 per cent) and Afghan (7 per cent).Almost nine in ten claims were from individuals who arrived in the UK on a work, study or visitor visa and overstayed.A Home Office spokesman said: 'We do not comment on anonymous briefings. The Home Secretary has been clear that those trying to defraud the British people to remain in the UK will have their application refused and find themselves on a one-way flight out of Britain.'The Prime Minister's spokesman today denied the claim that only 1 per cent of asylum claims are genuine.