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Home Office gave visa sponsor licences to Islamic bookshops selling antisemitic texts
Telegraph investigation raises questions after Home Office-approved businesses selling antisemitic and extremist books were licensed to sponsor overseas workers
Several Islamic bookshops selling antisemitic and extremist literature have been granted Home Office licences allowing them to sponsor overseas workers under the UK’s skilled worker visa scheme, according to an investigation by The Telegraph.
The newspaper found that licensed booksellers in Birmingham, east London and Leicestershire have sponsored foreign workers, with some issuing dozens of certificates of sponsorship since 2021.
Some of the bookshops sell works by former Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna and cleric Bilal Philips, who is banned from entering the UK.
According to The Telegraph, one Birmingham bookshop that has sponsored up to 16 workers since 2021 sells Qutb’s Milestones. The newspaper said the book argues that secular governments should be replaced by Islamic rule and calls for jihad to spread that system worldwide.
Another licensed bookseller in east London, which has reportedly sponsored up to 18 workers, sells Qutb’s In the Shade of the Qur’an. The Telegraph reported that the book describes Jewish people as having a “wicked nature” and claims they “try to destroy all values and all that is sacred to mankind”.
The investigation also found that several licensed bookshops sell The Fundamentals of Tawheed by Bilal Philips. In 2016, the Prison Service identified the book, along with works by Qutb and al-Banna, as extremist material that should be removed from prison chaplaincies.
Separately, The Telegraph reported that the Islamic Centre of England, which is under investigation by the Charity Commission over alleged links to the Iranian regime, also holds a Home Office sponsor licence allowing it to sponsor skilled workers and religious ministers from overseas. The centre said it is “not an official office or representative of any government, political entity, or individual” and has consistently maintained that it is an independent UK charity operating in accordance with UK law. The Home Office said the organisation has not sponsored any workers since 2022 and that, if wrongdoing is uncovered, those responsible could face criminal prosecution, the loss of licences and further civil action.
The Telegraph said there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any of the businesses involved. The books are legal to sell in the UK and are also available through mainstream retailers. The newspaper also said there is no evidence that workers sponsored under the visa scheme were recruited to sell or promote the books.
The skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 following Brexit, allowing licensed employers to recruit overseas staff for eligible jobs.
Responding to the findings, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson told The Telegraph: “It’s a perfect illustration of 14 years of Tory failure: rather than doctors and engineers, we brought in staff for Islamic shops selling books on jihad. It is beyond belief that the Home Office did not realise this.
“It has failed in its basic function of vetting visa sponsors for the public good. There should be an immediate investigation into how this has happened, removal of sponsorship powers and revocation of all visas granted.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Thanks to our decisive action to raise the skilled salary threshold, these kinds of businesses are incredibly unlikely to get a licence approved.
“Companies must apply for the appropriate sponsor licence. The holding of a licence does not guarantee that it is in use nor that any sponsored visa application will be approved by the Home Office following a rigorous assessment process. Holding a sponsorship licence is no guarantee of a visa, and all licences are determined on a case-by-case basis.
“To further protect the system from abuse, more than 100 occupations have been cut from overseas recruitment access. Meanwhile, skilled sponsor revocations went up by 950 percent in 2025 compared to 2023.”
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