Plymouth restaurant Le Monde could face £20,000 fine after immigration raid
A Plymouth restaurant could face a £20,000 fine after the Home Office launched an immigration raid on the site which led to the arrest of a 27-year-old Turkish man.
The raid was carried out during lunch service on 5 September at Le Monde, which is located on Southside Street, the Barbican.
A Home Office spokesperson confirmed the raid led to the arrest of the 27-year-old, who was found to be in breach of his visit visa. He remains in immigration detention pending his deportation out of the country.
The spokesperson confirmed the Immigration Enforcement Officer's raid was intelligence-led.
The restaurant will now face a £20,000 fine if it cannot demonstrate correct right-to-work document checks were carried out. This includes seeing a passport or home office document stipulating a prospective employee has permission to work.
It comes as industry figures call for a relaxation of working visas to be applied to hospitality to stymie the skills shortage affecting hospitality.
In July Soho's Chinatown shut down in protest over a series of raids on the street. At the time chief executive of the Chinese Information and Advice Centre Joseph Wu told The Caterer the £30,000 salary and language requirements of tier two visas was an impossible hurdle for many chefs in the area seeking a path to citizenship.
