Sham Marriages 'Rising At Alarming Rate' In UK

Tens of thousands of immigrants could be coming into the UK every year through sham marriages, the head of an influential committee of MPs has warned.

The number of immigrants using bogus weddings to gain entry into the country has increased at an "alarming" rate, he said.

The number of suspect couples referred to the Home Office in three years has doubled - and the Government estimates there are up to 10,000 sham marriages taking place each year.

Home Affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz cautioned that the number could be significantly greater than that because UK residence rights extended to the couple's family members.

Mr Vaz said the situation "is spiralling out of control".

"There is an industry of deceit in the UK which uses sham marriages to circumvent immigration control," he said.

"The estimated 10,000 sham marriages appears to be increasing at an alarming rate.

"One sham marriage can provide UK residence rights to an entire extended family who would otherwise have no right to be here."

David Cameron has pledged to get net migration down to the tens of thousands by next year, but it is suggested that he is unlikely to meet that target.

The most common problem is people from outside the European Economic Area seeking marriages with EEA residents in order to gain rights to live in the UK not just for themselves and their families.

Women in Portugal, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia are reportedly being offered cash for marriage.

In 2010 there were 934 reported suspect weddings, and that rose to 2,135 by 2013.

Registrars said immigration officials failed to inform them what action was being taken over suspicious marriages and had to carry on with the union regardless.

One told MPs it was "like being mocked in your own job".

The committee said registrars should be given the power to refuse to conduct marriages they considered a charade.

The MPs also said the worst-offending nationalities should be warned by UK embassies and the prosecution of couples who tried to cheat the system should be highly publicised as a deterrent.

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson said: "The Home Secretary can't bury her head in the sand any longer.

"People will rightly be angry at how it was ever allowed to get this bad.

"This Government are lurching from crisis to crisis in immigration, and clearly can't be trusted to make it work for the UK."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are taking ever tougher action, including through the new Immigration Act, to crack down on those who try to cheat our immigration system by abusing marriage laws."