Woman jailed for marriages scam

[Chess]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4481725.stm

[John]

Great news ... she deserves every one of those 10 years she has got.

Thankfully the change of law that came in on 1st February 2005 has at the very least, made this type of scam very difficult .... if not impossible.

Anyone who objects to the new law applying to non-EEA citizens wishing to marry in the UK needs to read this news story.

[olisun]

she needs to be deported along with all the others who were involved in this...

i doubt they are going to trace all the "so called grooms"

[Jeff Albright]

Thankfully the change of law that came in on 1st February 2005 has at the very least, made this type of scam very difficult .... if not impossible.

"Thankfully" is not an appropriate word here. Because of this kind of scam the genuine marriages will forfeit by going through a burden of bureaucratic steps, delays, complications and extra expenses in order to fulfil the natural right for one person to marry another. What ordinarily meant to be a simple and joyful event now will turn into unnecessary complications or even nightmares for some people who simply want to marry one another.

To tell the difference between genuine and non-genuine marriages is very simple. There are known ways of doing so and such ways are in operation in many countries in respect to foreign-born partners in order to verify the legitimacy of true relationship, hence much simpler ways of preventing abuse. It is nothing more than merely an inability of thinking from the side of politicians and other governmental bodies in this country (in other words "stupidity") that results in such cruel laws being imposed. Indeed, it is always easier to use power than to use a brain to do a bit of thinking, carry out studies of the problem before pressing ahead with rules, that some idiot hammers into their head and decides that this is the way it should be. Maybe these are what we call the true colours of "democracy" in this country.

[John]

Jeff Albright posted :-

"Thankfully" is not an appropriate word here. Because of this kind of scam the genuine marriages will forfeit by going through a burden of bureaucratic steps, delays, complications and extra expenses in order to fulfil the natural right for one person to marry another.

In reality what are we actually talking about here? Firstly if someone is issued with a fiancé(e) visa abroad there is no extra expense or complication ... except the need to give the Notice of Intention to Marry only at a designated Register Office rather than any Register Office. For example, if someone lives in Dudley, a few miles away from Birmingham, instead of giving that notice at Dudley Register Office they would need to do that at Birmingham Register Office. But the need to give the notice there would not stop them actually getting married at Dudley Register Office or indeed any authorised place in the Dudley area, if that is what they want to do.

Someone who never intends to live in the UK but would like to marry here? Yes there is now the need to apply for a Wedding Visitor's visa, and that might possibly be an added hassle, but hardly a lot of work. For example two citizens of the USA want to marry in a Scottish Castle. As ordinary visitors they would not need visas to enter the UK. To get married here they will both now need to obtain Wedding Visitor's visas.

Anyone in the UK with an ILR visa? No additional hassle at all, except the need to give the Notice of Intention to Marry only at a designated Register Office.

So the main effect is when someone is in the UK but does not have a fiancé(e) visa, a Wedding Visitor's visa, or ILR. Then they need to apply for permission from the Home Office to give the Notice of Intention to Marry. OK, a hassle and an expense, but often the guidelines issued by the Home Office will cut out that hassle and expense, albeit by listing the sort of applicant who would be totally wasting their money by applying. For example, any illegal immigrant is now effectively prevented from marrying in the UK, but the Government would argue that illegal immigrants were the sort of people more likely to enter into sham marriages.

The new restriction only affects marriages in the UK. There is no difference whatsoever if the marriage is to happen outside the UK. For example, say Indian citizen legally living in the UK plans to marry their Indian fiancé(e) in India, after which the plan will be to get him/her a visa to join husband/wife in the UK. Nothing in the new marriage regulations affects that plan at all.

Finally the new marriage regulations only affect non-EEA citizens. All EEA Citizens, including of course British, are totally unaffected.

[Jeff Albright]

Sent a reply to you in a private message. Just thought that it would not be appropriate for everyone to see.

[Chess]

Sent a reply to you in a private message. Just thought that it would not be appropriate for everyone to see.

Why not share with the rest of the team - nothing to hide!

[Jeff Albright]

Why not share with the rest of the team - nothing to hide!

Well thank you for being kind but I think some contents of my message may be in controvention of the forum's code, but I can send one to you privately if you wish so and if then if you think it is appropriate for others to see you can copy it onto the board.

[Jeff Albright]

Just in brief what i wanted to point out that whenever we talk about aliens marrying on this land, there are always two separate things - marriage, as a Human Right, and legislation regarding permission to remain here. These are two different things.
If you want to marry someone - you marry naturally, it is your right wherever you are. Then you decide what to do next, if you are on a foreign land, you must follow the rules for the country to accept you, this is when the legislation comes to light. If you are legal - you are here, if illegal - you leave and either build your life there or reapply to come back under the rules.
Any abuse of immigration laws are first usually due to the problems within existing legislation and lack of control from the Government, likewise to any form of crime. So the Government should sort their problems out first, correct their errors before using its power to force new rules on population without thinking them properly what the repercussions would be to the law abiding population or without carrying out the research of the reasons why the rules were abused in the past.
In this country, rules are abused primarily because the people who are responsible for a enforcing legislation are not doing their job properly. Because immigration staff never ran appropriate checks on foreigners marrying someone here, people started abusing the system. In other countries, like in the USA, any person is free to marry but no one is allowed to obtain a status based on marriage to a person settled there if the marriage is not genuine. These checks are very easy to carry out under the current rules without enforcing anything new, let alone without due thinking.
That was the point.