Sham Marriage Act - declared bogus
Home Office suspends restrictions on marriages to foreign nationals - NCADC
Charles Clarke suffered a severe blow in the High Court yesterday to his
restrictions on non-EU nationals marrying. For over a year Mr. Clarke has been
refusing many couples permission to marry because one or both of them had less
than six months leave to remain in the UK.
Three couples who were refused permission to marry by the Home Secretary
sought legal action. Yesterday the High Court heard arguments that in refusing
their marriage applications, the Minister had infringed their right to family
life.
In his judgement Justice Silber ruled that the Home Secretary had been
irrational in allowing marriages where one of the couples was subject to
immigration controls to take place with out restriction in Anglican ceremonies
but not in those of all other faiths. In doing so the Minister was clearly
discriminating on grounds of nationality and religion and therefore breaching
Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to marry and
found a family. The rules were being used as a form of immigration control and
completely with out justification.
Speaking after the ruling, Amit Sachdev representing one of the couples said:
"This once again shows the Government's abject failure to respect the human
rights of immigrants. This Act which brought in these rules was a knee-jerk
reaction based on speculation rather than evidence. The House of Lords
complained that the Act had not received proper parliamentary scrutiny. By
this judgment, their concerns have proved correct."
Richard Drabble, barrister for the couples said: "It is more difficult to
imagine a more fundamental right than the right to marry in accordance with
one's fundamental cultural requirements and to found a family."
Home Office made money from inflicting misery:
Each application to the Home
Secretary for permission to marry cost £135 per person. According to the Joint
Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, between February 2005 (when the new
rule came info effect) and the end of August, the Home Office received 7,201
such applications, creating just under £1,000,000 in revenue. NCADC wants to
know if the couples who applied and were refused will be given their money
back. We are concerned about some who complied with Home Office instructions
to return to their country to apply from there for entry clearance back to the
UK for the purposes of marriage. Some have returned to dangerous countries
which they fled due to persecution and have not yet been able to return.
After the judgement the Home Office said they will as of immediate effect;
suspend until further notice, consideration of applications for certificates
of approval which would usually fall for refusal.
That means those refused permission to marry under the legislation can now do
so.
On hearing of the judgement 'Brides Without Borders' said: "Though couples
will have the right to marry the ruling will not stop the Home Office
splitting couples apart by insisting that the one with out leave to remain
will have to leave the UK and apply for re-entry. This judgement means we have
won on securing the right to marry and leads people to question why the Home
Office separates couples who are married. We will continue to campaign to keep
married as well as unmarried couples and their children together."
Brides Without Borders - Keep Couples Together is a rapidly growing national
campaign led by British men and women affected by cruel Asylum policies, who
face being forcibly separated from their foreign national partners in the name
of "maintaining effective immigration controls".
To contact Brides Without Borders;
Email -
brideswithoutborders@yahoo.co.uk
April 2006
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