A husband and wife from Wolverhampton have been charged with submitting hundreds of fraudulent applications for illegal immigrants and keeping the fees.

The pair are accused of completing more than 200 “deceptive” applications for leave to remain in the UK on behalf of immigrants who entered illegally.

The accusations relate to forms filled in for Indian nationals along with 30 visa applications. Duman Singh, aged 55, and Gurdev Kaur Nagra, 48, were allegedly posing as licensed officials from June 1998 to September 2010.

The charges announced today follow a major investigation by the UK Border Agency and Crown Prosecution Service.

Senior prosecutor Mr David Rouse, from the West Midlands CPS complex casework unit, said: “Following a very diligent investigation by officers from the UK Border Agency, a file was forwarded to us to consider whether any criminal charges could be brought.

“Having carefully reviewed all of the evidence, I have authorised the Border Agency to charge Duman Singh and Gurdev Kaur Nagra both with one count each of facilitating a breach of immigration law by a non- EU citizen and one count each of providing immigration advice when not licensed by the Office of Immigration Services Commissioners.”

The couple, from the Penn Fields area, will appear before Wolverhampton magistrates on November 8.

Mr Rouse said the charges spanned a period between June 1998 and September 2010 when the pair allegedly sent more than 200 applications to the Home Office for leave for illegal immigrants to remain in the UK. The charges allege that the forms were “wrongly particularised and therefore deceptive”.

The couple are said to have filled in forms “with a view to making a substantial financial gain from the fees which they charged to those applicants”.