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UK 'sham marriages' law struck down
By Staff
Reporter
THOUSANDS
of Zimbabweans forced to put their marriages on hold in the United Kingdom
can now get married after a High Court judge ruled Monday that new British
rules intended to prevent sham marriages by immigrants are incompatible
with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Justice Stephen Silber ruled that the rules discriminated against those who were not members of the Church of England or other Anglican bodies, and on the basis of nationality.
The Home Office said it was considering whether to appeal.
A spokesman said: “The Government is determined to protect the immigration system and marriage laws from abuse.”
The rules are intended to prevent people from marrying non-citizens purely for the purposes of allowing them to become residents of Britain.
Under the law, foreigners given only six months leave to stay in the UK have to seek permission from the Home Office to wed. There is a £135 fee and only 76 specially-selected register offices can deal with the marriage.
The British government says the law has resulted in the number of bogus marriages falling from 3,578 to just 247 in 12 months. Many had involved organised rackets where illegal immigrants paid thousands of pounds for a “wedding of convenience”.
The rules provide an exemption for persons who marry in an Anglican Church, because it is presumed that the church has safeguards to prevent sham marriages.
"I was troubled by the fact that though there is evidence that sham marriages take place in registry office marriages, there is no evidence or assertion that they take place in non-Anglican religious marriage ceremonies," Silber said in a summary of his ruling issued by the Courts Service.
"Many of the factors on which the secretary of state relies as justifying exempting Anglican church marriages could or might also apply not only to other Christian church services (whether Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian or Baptist) but also to all religious marriages conducted by the appropriate official in, for example, mosques, Hindu temples and synagogues," Silber added.
He said the rules also would require couples to marry abroad, despite it being unreasonable for them to do so in many cases.
Among the people who brought the case were Mahmoud Baiai, a Muslim from Algeria, and Izabela Trzcinska, a Polish Roman Catholic.
Silber said others who had joined in the case had succeeded in getting government approval to marry, but they continue to seek damages.
The Home Office issued a statement saying it was determined to end abuses of the immigration system. Since the rules requiring a certificate of approval were introduced, it said the number of suspicious marriage reports received from registrars has dropped from 3,740 in 2004 to less than 300.
"Our aim has always been to avoid unnecessary disruption of genuine marriages, while providing firm controls to prevent abuse. We consider that it is reasonable to expect people to return home if they do not have the appropriate entry clearance or if they do not have valid leave in the UK," the Home Office said.
Tens of foreigners,
including two known cases of Zimbabweans, were arrested and locked in
detention centres while getting hitched to their British partners.
Additional reporting AP
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