In our guest blog today, Kim Sow explains more about legalities and the ‘Justice’ system after discovering her husband was in fact already married. Kim now runs the ‘Immigration Marriage Fraud Consultancy’ to help others like herself.
One of the little talked about aspects of the dating scams is the rise in people being targeted for marriage to obtain immigration status in the UK. As the immigration criteria tightens in other routes combined with the failure to remove illegal migrants, bogus students, failed asylum seekers etc they are turning to the spousal visa which is the weakest of all immigration systems as there are so few checks carried out. No marital checks, no affidavit of single person status, no declaration on the exclusivity of the relationship, no police certificate required and very few actual criminal checks are carried out. With an illegal migrant population in the UK estimated to be 1M this means that one in 65 people you meet is trying to secure their immigration status. Marriage is being used as an insurance policy against deportation.
To make matters worse the ‘Certificate of Approval’ system was removed. This was a process that meant that all foreign nationals had to be checked by the Home Office before they were allowed to marry in the UK. This removal led to a steep rise in Sham marriages and fraudulent marriages. In 2014 the EU named these ‘Marriages by Deception’ in other countries they are known as ‘Marriage Fraud’ or ‘Mariages Gris’. Bigamy and polygamy without consent has become a large feature in these frauds often combined with criminal pasts and fraudulent paperwork.
Online dating agencies and the religious matrimonial sites have become the ‘go to place’ to secure a marriage. Many victims naively believed that if somebody is in the UK that there must have been some checks carried out, they believe that when they go to the General Registry Office (which is part of the Home Office) for marriage that checks are carried out automatically when the reality is that only when the General Registry Office has suspicions can a Section 24 be issued and referral made to the Home Office. Again the spouse may believe that rigorous checks will be made when the spouse visa/family reunification process is started when this is not so and maybe even the dating sites themselves believe the propaganda of the ‘Hostile Environment’ not knowing the full extent of the issue that ‘ne’er do wells’ are entering the UK and marrying to secure their status.
Some examples:
A woman met a man on a dating site, they married and he obtained his spouse visa. It transpired he was on a criminal most wanted list in his own country and already married.
A man met a woman on a dating site who had several children, they married and she obtained a spouse visa. He believed he was step father to the children who he financially supported. It transpired that she was already married in a live relationship and that the children had a father who was very much in the picture and who inadvertently he was financially supporting.
A woman met a man on a dating site and it transpired that none of his details were correct and he had obtained numerous different official and unofficial identities. He had already been in prison for using fraudulent documentation in the UK. Transpired he was also married. Through marriage he obtained his immigration status.
A man met a woman on a dating site and they married. Transpired she had three husbands!
A woman met a man on a dating site. It transpired that he had been voluntarily deported for fraud but been given a letter from the Home Office stating that ‘should he apply on the basis of marriage he would not be refused’ so this is of course what he did and his wife had no knowledge of his criminal past.
Sadly, these cases are common. Unfortunately not all dating sites carry out checks and of course some of the sites are hosted abroad. Social media is also being used as a dating site e.g. a vulnerable woman was targeted by a foreign national, they married in the UK and it transpired that he was already married, not the age he purported to be nor of the profession he said. In fact not even his address was real that he had given in his home country. The disabled are particularly vulnerable to these frauds as there is a different immigration system for them and they do not have to prove an income of £18,600.
None of the above cases and the numerous similar are prosecuted. In 2014 the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration wrote his British Nationality Report. He could find no prosecutions other than for organised crime. The EU Commission recommended that all member states have a multi-agency forum including non statutory bodies to look at these ‘Marriages of Convenience’ unfortunately the UK did not implement. There are no cases of bigamy being prosecuted between a foreign national due to the out of date bigamy law. Issues such as jurisdiction, domicile and ‘subject of her majesty’ combined with CPS guidance making cases impossible to obtain an outcome. These cases could be prosecuted under the Fraud Act 2006 Section 2 or perhaps 4 but they are not. Furthermore these cases are a form of rape. Few victims would have consented to sex with their partners if they knew that they were already married and not the identity they purported to be! Whilst all forms of online dating scams are harmful imagine being bound to the fraudster in a contract of marriage that is extremely difficult to extract from without serious financial consequences unless there has been a prosecution.
Other countries have had great success in address when these frauds are used for immigration purposes. Here is the law of France as an example:
Article L623-1
- Modified by LAW n ° 2011-672 of June 16, 2011 – art. 33
The fact of contracting a marriage or recognising a child solely for the purpose of obtaining, or having obtained, a residence permit or the benefit of protection against expulsion, or for the sole purpose of acquiring, or acquire, the French nationality is punishable by five years of imprisonment and 15 000 Euros fine. These penalties are also incurred when the foreigner who has contracted marriage has concealed his intentions from his spouse.
The same penalties apply in case of organisation or attempt to organise a marriage or recognition of a child for the same purpose.
They are brought to ten years of imprisonment and to 750 000 Euros of fine when the infraction is committed in organised band
Great harm is being caused by these fraudsters and a prosecution strategy must be devised if we are to stop the growth and deter the fraudsters.
For more information see www.immigrationmarriagefraudconsultancy.com