Sham marriage

A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into purely for the purpose of gaining a benefit or other advantage arising from that status. While referred to as a "sham" or "fake" because of its motivation, the union itself is still legally valid if it conforms to the formal legal requirements for marriage in that country. Arranging or entering into such a marriage to deceive public officials is itself a separate violation of the law of some countries. In the United States, sham marriage for purposes of immigration fraud is a felony.

After a period, a couple often divorces if the marriage is no longer useful.

Common reasons for sham marriages are to gain immigration, residency, work or citizenship rights for one or both of the spouses, or for other benefits.

There have been cases of people entering into a sham marriage to avoid suspicion of homosexuality or bisexuality. For example, Hollywood studios had allegedly requested homosexual actors, such as Rock Hudson, to conceal their homosexuality in a so-called lavender marriage.

Since the introduction of stricter modern immigration laws in First World countries, sham marriages have become a common method to allow a foreigner to reside, and possibly gain citizenship, in the more desirable country of the spouse. The couple marries with knowledge that the marriage is solely for the purpose of obtaining the favorable immigration status. This is frequently arranged as a business transaction (i.e., a substantial sum of money is paid) and occurs more commonly with foreigners already in the country. United States immigration law considers this to be fraudulent, imposing a penalty of a $250,000 fine and five-year prison sentence on the citizen, and deportation of the foreigner, for such marriages not made in good faith. The INS and the Justice Department say that they do not have accurate numbers on the rate of attempted marriage fraud. In the 2009 fiscal year, 506 of the 241,154 petitions filed were denied for suspected fraud, a rate of less than 0.09%.

The UK Border Agency issued guidance to clergy in April 2011 to help prevent weddings for visas. English and Welsh clergy may perform a marriage, according to the law there. They have been advised not to offer to publish banns for any marriage which involves someone from outside Europe. Instead, the couple will be asked to apply for a license and if a member of the clergy is not satisfied that a marriage is genuine, they must make that clear to the person responsible for granting the licence.

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Wikipedia