Victim of forced marriage, expert advice most appreciated

[jobloga]

Hi,

I am a 22 year female ILR holder and am being forced to marry a man in India in order for him to gain residency to the UK. To cut a long story short there is no way out of this for me so please don't try to persuade me to not marry and make an application.

I however have very strong feelings about the whole thing and DO NOT want him to come through to the UK like this and be forced to go through the 2 years pretending to be his wife and to get the documents for him to get ILR.

Now, I want a way out of this without him/them finding out that I am the person that stopped him from succeeding.

I have realised that I will have to 'marry' and this does not burden me as it is just a few days work I guess, especially if I know he will not succeed.

But please could someone tell a way of getting his application refused without him finding out that I did it.

I want to tell the home office that it is a forced marriage but I am terrified that it would be stated on the reject statement.
I am praying for a way out of this, please help.

[Jeff Albright]

I am a 22 year female ILR holder and am being forced to marry a man in India in order for him to gain residency to the UK.

Who is "forcing" you?! You are a permanent resident of a democratic country, aren't you, where the rights of men and women are equal?
If someone is "forcing" you to do something against the law, you should contact police. If you are subject to domestic violence you should contact CAB or Relate who will help you.

I want to tell the home office that it is a forced marriage but I am terrified that it would be stated on the reject statement.

And why whould that be?! What "reject statement"?
Even if you were a victim of forced marriage the subject would not gain his residency here anyway.
You are in control of your own life. No one can "own" you. You have the rights and the law protects your rights. If you have concerns you should contact police, CAB or other organisations that are there to help you.

[jobloga]

Thanks jeff for the reply but to put the situation simply:

If I don't marry then I would live in fear that they will attack my father in India.

There is no violence so far, it is a long story, but I have to do apply and make it look like I did my bit.

It is a sham marriage that they are forcing my father to do.

The reject statement I was refering to is the one they give when they reject the visa.

[Jeff Albright]

If I don't marry then I would live in fear that they will attack my father in India.

But I am sorry... there is no childtalk here. We live in 21st century, for God's sake!
Contact the police in India and report them. Tell them it is a conspiracy going on there with criminal intent.
The individual will not be granted visa anyway, as the officials are trained enough to distingush fraud and recognise deception. If you try to deceive the UK Immigration you will also put yourself in trouble with the law in this country where you may be procecuted for deception and the perversion of the course of justice - both are criminal offences.
Do you want to end up in jail yourself?

The reject statement I was refering to is the one they give when they reject the visa.

Fine, but why does this concern you? Fraudulent applications will certainly be refused outright.

[ilm]

Having applied for a spouse visa recently I remembered reading this http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/servlet/Front ... 5796295766

13.18 - Reluctant spouses (fiancé(e)s)
Where a sponsor (usually a wife/fiancée but occasionally a husband/fiancé) tells you that s/he has been forced into a marriage and does not support the entry clearance application, s/he may ask that this information is not divulged as their family may take action against them. Where a sponsor gives such confidential information to an ECO it will not usually be appropriate to record these statements in the main body of the Q + A interview notes. The interview notes will form an integral part of any appeal and this information might result in adverse consequences for the sponsor. It will be more appropriate to record the statement separately. You should ask the sponsor to sign and date this statement and signify that it is true and has been given freely.

[ppron747]

You might find it useful to talk to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's Forced Marriage Unit, which has had some media coverage recently. They are part of the FCO's Consular Directorate, and their focus is presumably on British citizens, rather than non-Brit ILR holders, but they may be able to make some useful suggestions.

This page on the FCO website gives some background.

[Jeff Albright]

The above two posts give excellent information.
Well done.

[jobloga]

Contact the police in India and report them.

The police are useless and corrupt there and they certainly won't be able to protect my father.

The individual will not be granted visa anyway, as the officials are trained enough to distingush fraud and recognise deception.

I don't know about that, I'm not so confident.

I will phone the forced marriages department and will see if they could arrange something were the husband will not find out that I grassed him up. Surely, the department will be adept enough to make a plan of action with me where he won't find out. Even if it is me getting hard evidence for them and portraying to the husband that they got it themselves.
I will obviously do every thing I can to stop him getting his visa but without putting my father's life at risk.
The whole thing stems from a long story where the husband's family will see it has his obligation to do this sham marriage for them and I assure you that we could not have avoided this. It's a long disgusting story involving blackmail and other horrible things.
I will keep you posted on what happens and what the fco forced marriage dep says.
Thanks for the advice.

[bergdorf]

Is this guy really this desperate to get to the UK that he's willing to consider such (illegal) extremes?

The 'Southall Black Sisters' is a well known support group for Asian women that specialise in Forced Marriage issues. They should be able to provide you with expert legal advice too. You could try and contact them.

[jobloga]

To be honest, I can't say that the man and his family will consider doing that, but I think they would certainly cause terrible physical and possibly other forms of hurt and damage, for sure because they would see themselves as being unfairly treated.

Thank you for the Southall Black Sisters link, I really do appreciate the kind help from everyone.

And yes, they really are desperate to come to the UK, for the wrong reasons in my opinion.

[JAJ]

And yes, they really are desperate to come to the UK, for the wrong reasons in my opinion.

Are you aware that most spouse visas are provisional for two years (for precisely this reason)? Permanent residence is no longer given immediately.

[bergdorf]

And yes, they really are desperate to come to the UK, for the wrong reasons in my opinion.

Are you aware that most spouse visas are provisional for two years (for precisely this reason)? Permanent residence is no longer given immediately.

I think she realises this.

I however have very strong feelings about the whole thing and DO NOT want him to come through to the UK like this and be forced to go through the 2 years pretending to be his wife and to get the documents for him to get ILR.

To the original poster, I'm sure there are similar women's organisations in India that will be able to help you or your family if the Indian Police are ineffective. Also, if the Indian Police behave in such a shockingly reprehensible way, you should just go to the nearest news agency and scream blue murder. I know I would. Don't let them get away with it. If you do, they'll just pick on someone else.

[jobloga]

I really don't know of any woman's organisations that would be of any effect. And I really don't want to go down the route of telling the police, I don't want the risk, it's simply not an option for me.

I won't let them get away with it, i won't let him get his visa and and I will try my best to make sure he is never allowed to apply to come to the UK again.
I'm thinking about getting hard evidence that it is a marriage of conveinience and getting presented to the applicant that the Home Office themselves got it without any help from me.

I will inform you what the fco tell me to do on Monday.

[olisun]

btw which part of India do you live?

[simar]

btw which part of India do you live?

must be from north india. But police thuer is currpt only for money. U being in UK should help ur father out with pounds. Just contact SSP level officer. You father can make FIR that his life is in danger. This will help him out from any immeidete danger.
But , I also understand the more you get into such situations the more problem is. Best option is see if u can tell home office concenred dept about ur situation hidenly.

[mhunjn]

What makes you think so?...

This is more complex than a lot of the people think it to be. India may be very progressive in media, but there still is a lot of corruption and I think that is highlighted in the posters concerns.

btw which part of India do you live?

must be from north india.

[jobloga]

Hello and thanks everyone for the help.

I contacted the Forced Marriage dept. of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office yesterday but it was not as helpful as I was hoping. The lady just suggested either I don't go to India to get married or try getting your father here to the UK. I'm not going to do either.

When I suggested trying to get the application refused she told me the problem with that, is the applicant has the the right to appeal, and it is his right to know why the application was refused. She said the FCO had no control on what happens at the appeal. I will speak to the AIT tomorrow to ask them what I could do at the appeal as it would be me appealing against myself at the appeal hearing! I asked if the appeal could possibly take place in India with the husband attending there and she said she couldn't say. Does anybody know about this? I would appreciate the advice greatly. Is getting the statement from the AIT after the appeal with it not stating that I helped in getting it refused an option?

I proposed a plan of getting hard evidence that it is a marriage of conveinance (marriage just for him to get residency, we have no intention of living together, well I certainly don't!!) and portraying it to the husband that the Home office got it themselves. She asked for an example, I couldn't think of anything.
Anybody got any ideas, I don't want him getting his visa and ruin my life and abuse the system and me like this.

Thanks for the advice.

[simar]

jobloga,
Practical solution is to get FIR by ur father . Through it seems that u did get help by someone to get here in UK. Now when the time come to reciprocate u are backing away. We all know this is not a idle world. Also appreciable is your concern that system should not be abused. ( I hope system was not abused in ur case when u come to uk)

[jobloga]

no thats not true. i don't want to go into why this is happening, i'm just saying that me and my father were blackmailed into doing it.

could you please tell me what FIR is?
Thanks

[jobloga]

I'm prosponing the marriage, I said that I can't get time off from work.
I'm using this time to make a plan, the FCO have not been very helpful to me. They have not given me many ideas. They told me to not go ahead with the marriage, something I cannot do.

I'm thinking of making a poor application..but what I need is an idea on how I can get evidence that it is a fake marriage, it is a sham marriage that he is forcing me to do, there is no intention of us living together. Now, where and how can I get evidence that it is a sham marriage? Surely this can not be so difficult, because IT IS a sham marriage with no intention to live together.

I have time to make a plan.

What grounds do ECOs have to refuse applications that they suspect to be made soley for the non-uk resident to get residency?

Does anybody know of appeals that were not given because there was hard evidence that it was a sham marriage?

Maybe I could lie to the husband and say we need documents, letters that we cannot get and suggest to him the idea of forging them and them obviously telling the home office that it is forged. Obviously I don't want to get the blame from him...I think he would take the risk, I would obviously make it clear with him that HE is taking a risk here... but it is essential for the application.

Maybe I can say I lost my job, and we need to forge documents...I'm thinking something like forgery because it is something that he can't really appeal against. Once I have a plan of action i will tell the FCO and Home office and I thought I could do the whole thing together with them. maybe I'm being a bit optimistic.

I need some ideas...PLEASE.

What about evidence the home office got themselves from their own enquiries?
I will obviously guide them in getting the evidence making their job as easy as possible as long as it does not look as though I helped them.

[breadfan]

Honestly, I'd just go with the best immigration lawyer you can afford. I'm sure they'll know about all the cases in which it can be shown to be a marriage of convenience and all the legal ramifications pertaining to yourself.

I wouldn't take any chances with that, go with a professional in the law. That's my advice.

[Abiola]

hi
i've read your story and understand what you are going through.
You do need help and support.
You could look at the reasons for refusal and act in that line.E.G
1.Not giving documentary evidence of accommodation
2.Insufficent funds in the account
3.No payslips or low salary.Don't give up your job but you might take a part time employment which pays less than 100 pounds a week.Nobody would allow a spouse to depend on you if your pay is so low.

In short,mess up the documentation.
I wish you well and pray they don't succeed.

[Tazleem2]

Any updates, cos im in the same situation. A forced marriage , just for settlement in the UK!!

Need ways for the application to be refused without my family or the in-laws finding out!!

[OL7MAX]

I'm sure there are similar women's organisations in India that will be able to help you or your family if the Indian Police are ineffective. Also, if the Indian Police behave in such a shockingly reprehensible way, you should just go to the nearest news agency and scream blue murder.

LOL. It's amazing how naive people brought up in the west can be. No, it's not a criticism; I find it quaint. News agencies know about the police. If they wanted to run "corrupt police" stories they have about one million to choose from everyday. How do you propose this poster gets them to highlight her plight instead of running any one of those other million stories? And, once they've done that how do you convince them to take her under their wing to avoid reprisals? Yelling "blue murder" is an unfortunate choice of phrase. I've known of people who've "disappeared" in police cells.

jobloga, I understand your plight. You do realise that whatever course of action you take there are risks. Your choice is to take the action that minimises the chance of injury to your father - even if that means breaking the law. Nobody in a public forum is going to egg you on to break the law and/or make effective suggestions on how best you can do it. This is a private matter between you and a good, street smart advisor (and s/he doesn't necessarily need to be a lawyer). The Southall Black Sisters was a good suggestion. Are you reading your PMs?