Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of transnational marriage abandonment cases since 2016.

Since 31 January 2024 those who find themselves a victim of domestic abuse in the form of transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) can apply for entry clearance (Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE)) under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse to the Immigration Rules.

Data on the number of applications under the TMA route is published each quarter on gov.uk under the category ‘Settlement VDA LTE’: Visas and Citizenship data: Q2 2024. The data shows there were 9 cases in Q1 and 19 in Q2.

Prior to this, cases of TMA were not distinguishable in published statistics. Moving forward, the prevalence of TMA cases can be monitored over time.