Church targets sham marriages
Source: Agencies |
April 13, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Church of England yesterday gave priests some guidance on ways to prevent sham marriages staged to beat immigration rules.
One Church of England priest, Reverend Alex Brown, was sentenced to four years in jail last year for presiding over 360 marriages in five years between eastern European women who were in the country legally and African men who had exhausted all other ways of remaining in Great Britain.
Church officials recommended that any couple that includes someone from outside the European Economic Area should be subject to a "common license." That requires the couple to swear affidavits, give proof of identity and address, and attend marriage preparation classes.
Priests were assured they would not be disciplined for refusing to conduct a suspicious wedding.
The common license would be in place of the traditional publication of banns, in which the names of the couple are read out at church services for three Sundays in the parishes where the man and the woman live and in the parish where they intend to marry, if neither person lives there. Common licenses must be approved by the bishop of the diocese where the wedding is performed.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said the government had consulted with the church on the advice.
One Church of England priest, Reverend Alex Brown, was sentenced to four years in jail last year for presiding over 360 marriages in five years between eastern European women who were in the country legally and African men who had exhausted all other ways of remaining in Great Britain.
Church officials recommended that any couple that includes someone from outside the European Economic Area should be subject to a "common license." That requires the couple to swear affidavits, give proof of identity and address, and attend marriage preparation classes.
Priests were assured they would not be disciplined for refusing to conduct a suspicious wedding.
The common license would be in place of the traditional publication of banns, in which the names of the couple are read out at church services for three Sundays in the parishes where the man and the woman live and in the parish where they intend to marry, if neither person lives there. Common licenses must be approved by the bishop of the diocese where the wedding is performed.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said the government had consulted with the church on the advice.
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