§ Mr. Sandelsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is yet in a position to give details of the new immigration rules concerning marriages of convenience.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI have today laid these rules before the House and they come into force at once.
They provide that, where a marriage overseas has been recently contracted, the husband will no longer be granted settlement on arrival, but will be admitted for a period of up to 12 months before settlement is entertained; and similarly where marriages are contracted here. There will be specific power to refuse admission or settlement in any case where 477W the marriage is believed to be one of convenience, and there will be a rebuttable presumption that the marriage is in that category in certain defined circumstances. At the end of the 12 months, checks will be instituted selectively to ascertain whether the husband is still living with his wife. These powers will be applied only to males because they cannot effectively be applied to women without substantive legislation to amend both immigration and nationality law.
All applications now outstanding in this country or overseas will be dealt with under the new rules.