2,000 Nigerian Nurses in Britain face Deportation
…Served Notice to leave the U.K., despite awaiting outcomes of appeals
*Home Office Revoked VISAS due to Fraud by Nursing and Midwifery Council
*Nigerian Nurses impacted by NMC’s investigation into fraud at a testing site in Ibadan, Oyo State
*Investigation launched into Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan for anomalous data
*Nurses suspected of fraud asked to provide additional evidence and make representations to the NMC
*BY DEBBY DANIELS/IMMIGRATION Correspondent reporting LIVE in United Kingdom
SOME NIGERIAN NURSES IN THE BRITAIN are presently facing deportation by the Home Office in the United Kingdom (UK) and had been served Notice of Leave to depart the country without any further delay. Some nurses who are at the centre of an investigation into widespread fraud that took place at a test centre in Nigeria have been served notice to leave the UK despite still awaiting the outcomes of their appeals, Nursing Times can reveal.
Letters sent by the Home Office, seen by Nursing Times, have asked nurses to leave the UK as soon as next week, after their visas were revoked following fraud allegations by the nursing regulator.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has been accused of “deliberately delaying” hearings and has been urged to immediately remedy the situation so that nurses are not repatriated before their appeal has been heard.
The NMC has refuted claims that the delays are deliberate and said it was working to schedule the remaining hearings as soon as possible.
It comes as almost 2,000 internationally educated Nigerian nurses were impacted by the NMC’s investigation into fraud concerns at a testing site in Ibadan, Nigeria run by Pearson VUE on behalf of the NMC.
Nursing Times reported last year that almost 50 nurses were looking to take the NMC to court, claiming they had unfairly had their registration removed or their application to join the register refused following the fraud investigations.
Some nurses described how they had been prematurely fired by their employers and had their visas revoked while they awaited their hearing outcomes.
Now, several nurses have been issued letters to leave the UK by the Home Office.
Nursing Times can reveal that the same 50 nurses served the NMC with a “pre-action protocol letter” in February, giving the regulator 14 days to respond to their concerns or legal action would be taken.
Among several demands, the NMC was asked to liaise with the Home Office to ensure the nurses threatened with deportation can stay in the UK until their appeals have concluded.
In addition, the letter called for a complete reconsideration of all those who have been removed from the register or had their application refused, after one of the 50 nurses accused of fraudulent entry successfully appealed.
Nursing Times understands that the NMC failed to responds to the pre-action protocol letter by the deadline, and that the nurses will now be looking to pursue legal action.
*Background to the CBT investigation:
The NMC launched an investigation in 2023 into the Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria after it was alerted to anomalous data coming from the site.
Analysis of data coming from the test centre revealed that nurses were sitting their computer-based test (CBT) in record time.
The CBT is one of two parts of a test of competence that some international nurses must complete as part of their NMC application and is usually sat in their home countries.
The NMC concluded that some 48 current registrants and 669 applicants were more than likely to have obtained their test result fraudulently at the Yunnik test centre.
It said that proxy testing was likely taking place at Yunnik, meaning someone was sitting the test on behalf of applicants.
All registrants and applicants impacted were asked to re-sit and pass a new CBT.
Those suspected of fraud were asked to provide additional evidence and make representations to the NMC in relation to the circumstances of their original test.
For those already on the register, they were referred to an independent panel of the NMC investigating committee (IC) to determine whether fraudulent entry to the register had occurred.
Meanwhile, for applicants to the register, an assistant registrar (AR) has been assessing completed applications and making decisions about whether to admit people to the register.
At the time of writing, 20 individuals had admitted to using a proxy tester to achieve their CBT at Yunnik. One person was a registrant and the other 19 were applicants.
Of the 48 individuals on the register who were accused of obtaining their CBT fraudulently, the NMC has held 12 hearings with the IC panel.
Of these, 10 have been removed from the register, while two have been allowed to remain.
Meanwhile, the AR has reviewed 200 of the applications from people seeking to join the register who are suspected to have obtained their CBT fraudulently.
Of those, 191 applications have been refused on the basis that the character requirements were not met.
Meanwhile, the AR has admitted nine applications, having been satisfied with the reflection and responses provided.
There are currently a further 17 completed applications pending an AR decision.
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