Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 9 December 2024 (HL2824), what assessment they have made of the prevalence of transnational marriage abandonment cases for 2024 and 2025.

Since 31 January 2024 those who find themselves a victim of domestic abuse in the form of transnational marriage abandonment (TMA) can apply for entry clearance (Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE)) under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse to the Immigration Rules.

Data on the number of applications under the TMA route is published each quarter on gov.uk under the category ‘Settlement VDA LTE’: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/682b151450dbd3ce8372abb4/visas-status-and-immigration-data-q1-2025.ods.

The data shows there were 9 cases in 2024 Q1, 17 in Q2, 34 in Q3, 23 in Q4. For 2025 the data shows there were 12 cases in Q1.

Prior to this, cases of TMA were not distinguishable in published statistics. We will continue to monitor the prevalence of TMA cases over time.