Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department monitors divorce filings to check visa compliance for family visa holders.

Family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting relationships. The current probationary period before a spouse or partner can apply for settlement is a minimum of 5 years and requires more than one grant of permission to enter or stay to test whether a relationship is genuine and continuing to subsist.

If the marriage or partnership breaks down permanently while the migrant partner still has limited permission to stay, or once the migrant partner has obtained settlement, the sponsoring partner can write to the Home Office and provide any information relevant to the migrant partner’s continued immigration status.

The Home Office will consider this information and may cancel the former partner’s permission or revoke any settled status if it can be established this permission was obtained by deception.