Patel to tighten rules around sham marriages in her new plan for immigration

PRITI Patel appears to be determined to crack down sham marriages.

Under a new Home Office plan to be published today by the home secretary,  immigration officers will be given fresh powers to turn away travelers at the border if they suspect their involvement in a sham marriage.

The new crackdown is also likely to see visas refused in cases where intelligence points towards bogus weddings. The move will be unveiled in a Home Office policy statement as Patel delivers a major speech on immigration today.

Patel is expected to promise ‘wholesale reform of the system’ in the speech, to be delivered at a conference organised by think-tanks Bright Blue and British Future. The Home Secretary will also announce new details of ‘fully digital’ border systems including US-style ‘electronic travel authorisation’ for all non-British arrivals by 2025 after which the government can accurately measure the number of people leaving and entering the country.

As per data from 2018, registrars reported 2,868 suspected bogus unions. This was a spike from a reported 561 cases in 2009.

The announcement comes a month after the revelation by The Bureau Of Investigative Journalism that the algorithm adopted by the home office to detect sham marriages from 2019 might be discriminating based on nationality and age gap between the partners. 

The Home Office’s triage system comes into play once a couple has given notice with a registrar. When either or both parties are from a country outside of the UK, Switzerland and the European economic area, or have insufficient settled status or lack a valid visa, the marriage is referred to the triage system to detect whether it is sham or not.

The AI then processes their data and allocates them either a green or red light. A red-light referral, which means the couple need to be investigated further, can put a person’s immigration and visa status at risk and could lead to legal action and deportation.