Foreigners warned on sham weddings

1st December: Foreigners have been issued stern warnings against using fake weddings in a bid to get resident visas in nations including Canada, the UK and the Philippines.

Philippines cautions foreigners--The BI(Bureau of Immigration) said foreigners using fake marriages for increasing their stay in the Philippines could face serious implications.

Speaking about the issue, Commissioner of BI Ricardo David, Jr. said more and more immigrants are using fake documents to the immigration bureau to get resident visas in the Philippines.

On 27th October, an Indian national was arrested after he was found to be submitting fake documents to the Philippines immigration bureau. David made it quite clear that such foreigners try to undermine the safety of the Philippines immigration system by using fraudulent documents.

UKBA slammed for sham weddings in Sussex—Similarly, the UKBA(UK Border Agency) has also been slammed over recent sham weddings held in Sussex. According to reports, hundreds of fake marriages were arranged in Sussex and nearly 370 marriages had a connection to the probe at St. Paul and St. Peter Church.

Foreigners must refrain from resorting to fake marriages for either extending their stay in foreign nations or immigrating overseas since many nations like Canada, the UK, the US or the Philippines have strict rules for anyone involved in such an offence

All such incidents call for an immediate need for stricter norms to control sham weddings in the UK, said Amber Rudd MP, Conservative MP for Hastings. He called deportation of only nine people as merely inadequate since it was a serious offence.

He urged the need for more severe punishment for those involved in such crime. It may be recalled that in 2010, Rev Alex Brown along with two other co-defendants were sent behind bars for a period of four years each for abusing UK immigration norms.

According to an official spokesperson of the UKBA, nearly 170 UK visa applications were rejected thereby rendering them unable to live or work in the UK due to their involvement in fake marriages.

Anyone found to be resorting to fake weddings not only loses his right to work legally in the UK but also gets robbed of the opportunity to stay here apart from facing deportation or going behind bars.