Migrants are learning a scripted fake backstory to guarantee asylum in the UK, audio recordings have revealed. An Iraqi migrant, posing as a stateless Bidoon from Kuwait, detailed claims of imprisonment, torture and forced confessions during a covertly recorded Home Office interview.

He answered pre-learned questions on Kuwait’s currency, flag, dialling code and governorates with ease. The tape, shared widely among English Channel-crossing hopefuls, exposes how people-smuggling gangs coach migrants to beat Britain’s asylum system. The recording was distributed via encrypted Telegram groups to Iraqi and Kurdish migrants waiting in northern France. It serves as a practical “how-to” guide, showing exactly how to deliver a convincing tale of persecution as a Bidoon — Arabic for “without nationality” — the stateless Arab minority denied citizenship in Kuwait since 1961.

The tactic, known as “nationality shopping”, lets migrants claim origins from high-grant countries such as Eritrea (85 % success rate last year) or Iran. One Home Office insider described the process as absurd: “An Afghani can say he’s Iranian, an Iranian can say he’s Iraqi… all you’ve got to do is Google your nationality questions. It’s bonkers.”

The audio follows the same script previously leaked in a 25-page Arabic document providing ready-made stories of demonstrations, arrests, signed confessions of vandalising state property, and coercion to act as an informant. After that leak raised fears of a crackdown, smugglers circulated the recording to reassure migrants that the Bidoon route still works.

Kuwait asylum claims have exploded more than fourfold, from 276 in 2023 to a record 1,210 in 2025. Yet grant rates for these claims have fallen sharply from 84 % to just 40 % as officials grow wise to the scam.

The Home Office’s own policy note recognises genuine undocumented Bidoons as facing persecution, but applicants must prove they lack documentation and suffer systemic harm.

Caseworkers rely on language analysis, accents, biometrics and credibility interviews, but migrants often arrive well-rehearsed. Smuggling kingpin Abu Hussein Al-Iraqi, operating from Calais, pushed the audio to his networks, boasting of daily dinghy crossings and demanding journey footage as part-payment.

The Telegraph obtained the audio recordings now circulating among migrants and first exposed the scripted Bidoon deception.

So far this year 4,766 migrants have reached the UK by small boat, down nearly 30 % on the same period last year, while 2025 saw 41,472 arrivals — the second-highest total on record.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are already aware of these networks, and our message to them is clear - the asylum system is not open to abuse." Officials are using multiple checks on nationality and identity, while broader reforms aim to remove incentives for illegal migration and speed up removals of failed claimants.

The revelations highlight how organised smuggling gangs exploit weaknesses in the UK asylum process, turning genuine refugee protections into a coached lottery.