Rent-a-bride racket ends in Britain

Press, 24 March 1977, Page 12

Rent-a-bride racket ends in Britain

NZPA London Britain’s Labour Government has set up a watch-dog I system to stop foreigners from marrying “rent-a-bride” I British girls in order to obItain permanent residence. The Home Secretary (Mr iMerlyn Rees), said any marriage between a foreign male 'and a British woman could I now be subjected to “revision” after 12 months to determine if it had been “a marriage of convenience”. Residency permits would be held up until the 12 months expired. Until now, marriage to a British girl gave automatic rights to the groom, but Mr Rees said the new rules were designed “to deal with abuse on what has become a significant scale”. The Government’s onelyear trial marriages could ' spell the end of the lucrative “rent-a-bride” racket by which British girls are paid wedding fees to marry foreign bridegrooms, mainly from Asia and the MiddleEast. Often such a marriage is never consumated and the couple see each other for the first and last time at the registry ceremony. But the new laws will not affect foreign women, many of whom have also settled in Britain after paying a fee to a British groom. Mr Rees said it would be too complicated to include women in the new rules. The “rent-a-spouse” rackets hit the headlines last, month when 19-year-old Sharon Grey admitted in court she was paid about $9O to play the role of wife for two Arabs at separate wedding ceremonies within a month. The court was told that the man who ran the racket received $450 a wedding — a fee for which he provided false passports to the bride. He even threw in a RollsRoyce and the same wedding ring for each ceremony.

Il The Government's decision .i to scrutinise marriages is , I certain to bring a clamour ! 3 of “snooping” from young! > couples and angry reaction < . from orthodox Pakistani and Indian migrant groups which r still arrange marriages for . their daughters to men ; brought to Britain from 1 their homelands. Already the Joint Council ) for the Welfare of Immii grants said it has received . three complaints about > Home Office checks on ; newly-wed couples. In one case the wife was asked to i prove that the clothes in the ; cupboard were, indeed, her r husband’s. 5 But on the other side of ) the coin, Scotland Yard is j still hunting for a blonde woman who married 50 im- - migrants within seven 1 months at a fee of about ; $2BO a wedding. , The “professional bride,” 1 in her early forties, appeared in London alone at / 36 registry offices, using a . variety of wigs, disguises, aliases and false addresses. i Although the Home Office > believes that 1976 was the - boom year for the marriage > racket its figures for 1975 show that 11,184 foreign t men married British girls, r How many of these were ! bogus marriages is not i known.