Bogus marriage couples not being prosecuted
- Published
Hundreds of people using sham marriages to stay in the UK have not been prosecuted and remain in the country.
BBC News has obtained figures showing 365 couples have tried to fraudulently exploit a post-Brexit scheme giving EU citizens and their spouses the right to remain in the UK.
Nobody in a sham marriage has been removed in the past two years - and the last prosecution was four years ago.
The Home Office said there were fewer investigations during the pandemic.
In 2018, the EU Settlement Scheme mapped out how European Union citizens, their spouses and family members could continue to live in the UK after the country left the EU.
They had to be resident by December 2020 and apply for permission to stay. Spouses from any country were eligible to apply.
BBC News has found couples have tried to fraudulently exploit the scheme by entering into a sham marriage - with the EU national extending their residency rights to their non-EU bogus partner.
Some individuals do it for money. Organised crime gangs are often involved.
All proposed marriages where one of the partners has no immigration status are referred to the Home Office for investigation.
Freedom of Information requests have revealed:
- between March 2018 and the end of September 2021, 365 marriages between an EU and a non-EU national were found to be sham
- the last criminal prosecutions were in 2018, when nine people were convicted and four of them removed
- since 2020, no-one has had their leave to remain revoked
- nationals of 60 countries, including most EU states, were implicated
- Albania tops the countries' table - with 146 Albanians involved
Dr Ervin Muco, in Albania, told BBC News people paid criminal gangs for what they saw as a ticket to a new life.
"These networks know how to cheat the system and they are making money from people who are prepared to pay.
"In recent years, most Albanian men who have left this country have gone to Italy or Greece - but some of them haven't been able to get citizenship in these countries.
"So some do try to find women from European countries they can marry.
"They can have all the benefits of being a European citizen.
"And because Britain was an EU member, many Albanians have been attracted to the UK."
Former police chief Prof Krenar Ahmeti, at the University of Tirana, agrees crime gangs are pivotal.
"Anyone aspiring to live in a wealthy country knows that there are certain key documents they need if they are going to integrate into that society," he said, "but they also often need an organisation to help them achieve this."
The Home Office said "As the public rightly expects, we take abuse of the spouse-and-partner immigration routes very seriously - and to suggest otherwise is wrong.
"We will not hesitate to take enforcement action against individuals found to be in a sham marriage or civil partnership, including cancelling their leave and removing them from the UK."