Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to tackle sham marriages.

The Government takes abuse of the immigration system, including sham marriages and civil partnerships, extremely seriously. Family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting relationship, and where this is not the case the Home Office will take robust action.

The sham marriage referral and investigation scheme, introduced under the Immigration Act 2014, continues to provide a strong platform for effective action to identify, disrupt and deter sham marriages and civil partnerships before they take place. The scheme applies to couples where one or both parties could gain an immigration advantage from marriage or civil partnership, allowing the Home Office to investigate and take action where appropriate.

Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules was updated in December 2020 to introduce specific grounds for the refusal or cancellation of permission to enter/stay on the basis of involvement in a sham marriage or sham civil partnership, providing a more robust and consistent framework against which immigration applications are assessed, and reflecting the seriousness of this type of abuse

Most recently, the Home Office has strengthened its approach to tackling sham marriages and civil partnerships by improving the coordination, detection and disruption across the system. Immigration Enforcement has established a national coordination and operational governance model to provide improved oversight of sham marriage activity, strengthen consistency of decision‑making and target resources more effectively. The Home Office continues to work closely with local registration services, UK Visas and Immigration, law enforcement partners and intelligence teams to identify sham relationships early and prevent abuse of the marriage route. This includes enhanced information‑sharing, improved referral processes and targeted investigative activity where abuse is suspected.

Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect a marriage or civil partnership is not genuine, the Home Office will investigate and take appropriate action. This may include refusal or curtailment of leave, removal or deportation from the UK , or prosecution.. The Home Office also focuses on disrupting facilitators and organised criminal networks involved in arranging sham marriages, recognising the links to wider serious and organised crime.

The Government keeps its processes under continual review and remains committed to protecting the integrity of the immigration system, safeguarding vulnerable individuals and ensuring enforcement activity is proportionate, intelligence‑led and lawful.