Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that those who exploit immigration marriage fraud to gain entry to the UK are (a) identified and (b) removed from the country.

The Government takes abuse of the spouse and partner immigration routes very seriously and is clear that family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting marriage or relationship.

The marriage referral and investigation scheme, introduced across the UK under the Immigration Act 2014, requires that all proposed marriages and civil partnerships where one or both parties could gain an immigration advantage from it are referred to the Home Office. Under this scheme, where we have reasonable grounds to suspect a sham relationship, the marriage notice period will be extended to allow for further investigation, and for enforcement or casework action to be taken where appropriate.

The Home Office focuses its efforts on disrupting facilitators as well as prosecuting individuals involved in sham marriages and civil partnerships and will consider refusal or cancellation of permission to stay, or removal, following any determination that a relationship is a sham.

Part 9 of the Immigration Rules provides specific grounds for the refusal or cancellation of permission to enter or stay on the basis of any involvement in a sham marriage or sham civil partnership, providing a more robust and consistent framework against which immigration applications are assessed, and reflecting the seriousness of this type of abuse.

Where appropriate and proportionate, enforcement and removal action will be taken. The removal pathways following a sham marriage determination include administrative removal under Section 10 (of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999) and deportation on public policy or conducive grounds.