Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of immigration marriage fraud were reported in the UK in (a) 2018 (b) 2019 and (c) 2020; what the average time taken was to deal with each case; and how many of those cases resulted in the removal of the perpetrator of immigration marriage fraud from the UK.

Reports of suspected Immigration marriage fraud (sham marriage) are reported to the Home Office by Superintendent registrars and member of the public.

The Home Office received reports:

From Superintendent registrars: 2,805 in 2018, 3,155 in 2019 and 2,822 in 2020.

From members of the public: 7,027 in 2018, 5,554 in 2019 and 4,390 in 2020.

The Home Office initially assesses every incoming piece of information within twenty-four hours of receipt. Beyond this, the average time taken to deal with each case of marriage fraud (sham marriage) is not recorded and is therefore not held.

The number of people involved in a marriage referral from a Superintendent registrar who have been removed from the UK by year of referral is, 138 in 2018, 87 in 2019 and 10 in 2020.

It is not possible to produce data for those reported by the public as this information is not readily available/held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.