subject: SHAM MARRIAGE IS A PASSPORT FOR ‘LEGAL' ENTRY INTO THE UK [print this page] SHAM MARRIAGE IS A PASSPORT FOR LEGAL' ENTRY INTO THE UK
Foreignersare openly flouting British immigration laws using marriage
to British passport holders to gain entry into the United Kingdom.
London journalist SHAMLAL PURI investigates aracket which is adding
the number of migrants to the UK at a time when the Government is
seriously talking of controlling the entry of migrants.
SHAM MARRIAGE IS A PASSPORT FOR LEGAL' ENTRY INTO THE UK
By SHAMLAL PURI in London
MARRIAGE is big business in the United Kingdom sham marriages to be precise. Picture this scenario all that a foreign passport holder, say an Indian, itching to settle down in the United Kingdom legally has got to do is to approach a marriage agent' offering to be married to a British passport holder for a price.
The racket works like this an agent in India is in touch with his counterpart in the UK. Together they hatch a plan to link up a British passport holder with an Indian passport holder, for example. Money changes hands something like 12,000 (US$20,000). The couple who do not know one another from any where and have never had chance to court one another are married in India or the UK.
This scam is particularly popular among members of the Gujarati and Punjabi communities in India, not to mention other Indian states and neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Once the marriage has been solemnized and a marriage certificate obtained, it is left for the British passport holder to apply for a visa for the spouse. This facilitates the legal entry into the country of the foreign passport holder.
They get a UK marriage visa, or spouse visa, enabling the husband, wife or civil partner to apply for leave to enter, or leave to remain in the UK on the basis that they are married to a person who is present and settled in Britain, albeit a British passport holder.
The newly arrived spouse gets settled' status which means that they are living here lawfully with no time limit on their stay.
Initially the UK visa for spouse immigration is issued for a two year period. After this time, a person can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) commonly known as permanent residency in the UK. In some cases, settlement entry clearance may be granted allowing a partner to stay in the country permanently; however, this is only applicable to a person who has been married and living abroad with their spouse for four years at the time they apply for entry to the UK. They are free to take up employment in the UK.
This is what the law states but this not how it works out practically for those new arrivals who have an agenda of their own.
An interesting incident was reported recently in the media. Portuguese-born Jorge Mouchinho, an EU citizen, and Falana McKenzie, his Trinidadian 'bride', were jailed for a year for trying to go through with a sham marriage.
They did not share a common language and barely managed to communicate with each other without an interpreter, the reason for the marriage was clearly to flout the immigration laws of the UK. Ms McKenzie had paid Mouchinho 2,000 to partake in the fake union so she could remain in the UK.
They had booked their big day at the registry office in Nottingham, in the East Midlands, in August, but aroused staff's suspicions when they appeared nervous and hesitant at a meeting before the wedding. Mouchinho had even forgotten the name of his prospective bride!
He was unable to provide his prospective wife's name when asked.
Police were alerted and members of the UK Border Agency stepped in to stop the proceedings just as the non-couple were on the verge of signing on the dotted line in the marriage registrar's office.
During their case at Nottingham Crown Court, it emerged that 33-year-old EU citizen Mouchinho had a legal right to be in the UK but 30-year-old McKenzie did not.
Having previously been in the UK legitimately on student and working visas, her most recent student visa had expired in April.
They were both given 12-month sentences after McKenzie admitted entering the UK without leave and Mouchinho pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration. McKenzie will be deported at the end of her sentence.
It is a very serious offence to seek to circumvent the immigration laws of this country,' said Judge Michael Stokes QC, adding This sort of activity simply has to be stamped out.'
A crackdown on sham marriages in the UK has seen 53 such unions halted since July, resulting in 126 arrests.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Another aspect of illegal immigration which has hitherto been ignored by the British authorities is the rampant abuse of the marriage visa by people from the Indian sub-continent.
Indian citizens men and women - are in the market for a British citizen to marry trawling through the internet and by going on to Indian matrimonial sites. Marriage, till death do us apart, is not really their intention. They go through the charade of a marriage ceremony in order to gain entry into the United Kingdom. On arrival in the UK they live with their British passport holding partner for two years, until their own residence status is confirmed by the Home Office. Then they strike seeking a divorce on some frivolous allegations against their partner. Their status as a permanent resident of the UK having been confirmed, they are free to live and work in the country and would not consider it necessary to remain married to the British passport holder who, in most cases, may be have been an innocent victim and an unwilling partner in a fraudulent marriage.
One 49-year-old Indian woman from Mumbai who carried out financial scams with her teenage daughter while living with her British Indian partner, finally sought divorce after her UK immigration status was confirmed at the end of her two year stay.
She deserted the marriage and returned to Mumbai after she realized that her financial dealings were being found out. Years later, bailiffs appointed by banks and building societies were chasing her for money and a court order was obtained against her. She laid low for a while and returned to the UK twice to get her Indian passport stamped before returning to Mumbai. She has free entry into the UK. No British immigration officer has made any attempt to investigate if she was still married to the man who had facilitated her visa and to strip her of her right to enter the UK because she was divorcing her husband.
It is only a matter of time when this woman will settle in the UK and turn to the British welfare system and will start claiming benefits as a permanent resident or a British citizen.
The British Government should terminate the visas of such spouses, sending them back to their country if a divorce happens. The authorities will be surprised to find how many Indian citizens in such circumstances could be stripped of their rights to live in the UK permanently after they have abused the visa system and married only to gain entry into the country.
The Home Office should monitor all those who arrive in the UK on marriage visa and set up a system where those whose marriages have ended or those who can prove that a marriage was used to obtain a visa to enter the country should, crack down on the perpetrators and deport them. It will be to Britain's advantage if a unit is set up at the Home Office to monitor the abuse of the marriage visa. It should also set up a hotline for people to report offenders. Britain will then discover that thousands of Indian citizens and other foreigners who have abused the marriage visa and continue to live in the UK.
The British Government is really confused about the unchecked immigration and young men and women are having a field day trampling the immigration rule book under their feet and settling in the UK.
The Government of Prime Minister David Cameron talks of controlling immigration but has not addressed the rampant abuse of the marriage visa. If it has to stamp out these illegal practices, it should hand down severe sentences to those who openly abuse the immigration laws. British passport holders who knowingly partake in illegal activity by allowing themselves to be used for sham marriages for financial gain should also be jailed.
Unless the British Government is serious about policing its immigration laws and making sure it deports all those who have entered the country after pulling the wool over the eyes of the Home Office, the UK will continue to be a soft touch for immigration. Shamlal Puri
