Sham marriages on 'unprecedented scale'

[Midas]

The scale of the sham marriages was on an unprecedented scale involving "classic exploitation" of foreign nationals desperate to stay in the UK, investigators said.

Cash-strapped Eastern Europeans were promised sums of up to £3,000 to marry Africans to help them gain residency in the UK and a chance of a better life.

Through gaining indefinite leave to stay in the UK, the Africans, mainly from Nigeria, would be able to enjoy Britain's education, healthcare and social benefits systems.

A large proportion of the Africans who went through with the sham marriages had arrived lawfully in the UK, either through the asylum process or by gaining a student visa.

Investigators said it was when they had "reached the end of the line" in their legal applications and appeals to stay in the UK permanently that they went through the sham marriage process.

Files recovered as part of the inquiry showed that, in some cases, Africans were already married and had children in their homeland.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins, of the UK Border Agency's (UKBA) South East region immigration crime team, said: "In the majority of the cases, the reason that most went through with the marriage process was not for love, it was to assist in their application to residency into the UK."

Both sets of participants were equally vulnerable. The Eastern Europeans tended to be poor migrant workers who found their dreams of making good money gave way to hardship.

Desperate and willing to consider any means to earn cash, they were targeted by the "recruiter" Vladymyr Buchak, who paired them up with Africans.

Ken Goss, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "It's classic exploitation.

"People come into this country expecting jobs, a good life and all that brings with it, then they find themselves in difficult positions and they become vulnerable."

He added: "Certainly for the South East region and indeed nationally, it is an unprecedented number of weddings."

The full story available from here : Sham marriages on 'unprecedented scale' - Crime, UK - The Independent

And

Vicar guilty of 360 sham weddings

A vicar was found guilty today of conducting hundreds of sham marriages to help illegal immigrants gain residency in Britain.

The Rev Alex Brown, 61, conducted 360 fake ceremonies at the church of St Peter and St Paul in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, between July 2005 and July 2009.

Co-defendent Vladymyr Buchak was also convicted at Lewes Crown Court of conspiring to breach immigration laws by paying Eastern Europeans up to £3,000 each to marry Africans, mainly from Nigeria.

They were caught after the UK Border Agency investigated the bogus marriages.

The jury is still deliberating on a third defendant.

During the seven-week trial, jurors heard that Brown presided over a total of 383 marriages during the four-year indictment period, a staggering 30-fold increase on the 13 he had conducted over the previous four years.

They were told that Buchak, 33, a Ukrainian national who had himself been living illegally in the UK since at least 2004, was responsible for "cajoling and persuading" the Eastern Europeans into the marriages of convenience.

He preyed on migrant workers who were living in the area and were desperate to earn money by offering them large cash sums to wed Africans to allow them to obtain the documents to live and work in the UK.

Jurors were shown photocopies of the marriage register at the church which showed that 360 out of the 383 weddings during the period involved Eastern Europeans marrying African nationals, mainly from Nigeria.

It was also apparent that, of the hundreds of people who had got married, they all seemed to live in the surrounding streets of the parish, with 90 couples registered as living in one road alone and 52 in another.

In some instances there were even several brides and grooms claiming to live in the same house and jurors were told that most of those involved in the marriages had given false addresses.

Jurors heard that Brown was arrested on June 30 last year following a joint investigation by Sussex Police and the UK Border Agency, and both his vicarage home in Blomfield Road, St Leonards- on-Sea, and the church were searched.

There they found documents he had doctored, including the church's electoral roll plus a second, altered copy, which he had filled out to hide the dramatic increase in weddings over which he was presiding.

The full story available from here : Vicar guilty of 360 sham weddings - Crime, UK - The Independent

So what's the answer? Change the laws on marriage to prohibit anyone who hasn't already obtained full UK citizenship from marrying a non-resident or non-citizen until they themselves have had a citizenship confirmed in their own right, or simply say that marriages conducted in the UK no longer confer any residency rights unless both parties have had their citizenship applications accepted by the Home Office? Should anyone breaking those rules be deported without any further ado?

[Yeti]

So what's the answer? Change the laws on marriage to prohibit anyone who hasn't already obtained full UK citizenship from marrying a non-resident or non-citizen until they themselves have had a citizenship confirmed in their own right, or simply say that marriages conducted in the UK no longer confer any residency rights unless both parties have had their citizenship applications accepted by the Home Office? Should anyone breaking those rules be deported without any further ado?

There clearly need to be closer scrutiny of marriages between UK citizens, EU nationals resident in the UK (And marrying here) with none EU nationals. There clearly need to be some kind of interview to establish where and how they met and whether they actually know each other and are in a relationship.

Those people who are here illegally need to be found and removed to there country of origin as quickly as possible.