The notice period that must be given before a marriage or civil partnership can take place looks set to be extended as part of Government plans to tighten up the immigration system.
According to the Home Office, the new Immigration Bill includes provisions that will increase the marriage and civil partnership notice period to 28 days in England and Wales and allow for it to be extended to 70 days where intelligence-based risk profiles and factors or other relevant information establish that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a marriage or civil partnership is a sham.
“Sham marriages have for too long been an easy target for migrants seeking to circumvent our immigration rules, often assisted by organised criminals,” said Immigration Minister Mark Harper. “Registrars are frustrated when they marry couples who are obviously sham; we need more effective tools to deal with it.”
“By extending the marriage and civil partnership notice period to 28 days in England and Wales and allowing this to be increased to 70 days in some circumstances we will make time to investigate, prosecute and remove those involved in sham marriages,” he said.
The Government says that it will work with the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to extend the scheme to the whole of the UK.
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.
