ILLEGAL immigrant Muhammed Jahangir faces being deported after being caught with a fake passport he used to find a job.
The 28-year-old, who previously worked as a medic in Pakistan, had arrived to the UK with a student visa.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown heard Jahangir then obtained a false passport after he submitted an out-of-date application to remain in the country.
He was later caught by police at Sultan Buffet, in Uttoxeter Road, Draycott, where he had been working.
Now Jahangir has been jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to three charges of being in possession of a false passport, French national identity card and driving licence.
Prosecutor Neil Ahuja told the court Jahangir’s application to stay in the UK had been refused with no right of further appeal.
He said: “This matter relates to false documents that the defendant had for simply purposes of obtaining work.
“The police officers and members of the immigration enforcement team went to his place of work, a restaurant in Uttoxeter Road.
“The defendant was detained there and obtained from the management were documents that had been submitted for work.
“He was issued with a student visa from December 2011 to March 2012. He overstayed and submitted an out-of-date application to remain in the UK and it was refused on February 24, 2015, with no right of appeal.”
The court heard Jahangir, of Uttoxeter Road, Draycott, had no previous convictions.
Kevin Mortlock, mitigating, said: “Mr Jahangir entered the UK quite legally as a student taking English language courses and had not followed the correct procedures to extend the time he could remain here.
“His application was made too late. The passport he had was used, not to get into the country, but to obtain work. He was a medic in Pakistan.”
Sentencing him, Recorder Andrew Easteal told Jahangir: “You have pleaded guilty to three very serious offences. Because of their seriousness, the only proper sentence I can pass is prison.
“There are two important factors that weigh in your favour. The first being you had the courage to plead guilty to these allegations. Secondly, although you were using these documents in a highly-illegal fashion, it is clear from the circumstances you had used them to secure employment, not to evade detection of the border controls.”
