§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the Official Report the text of the reply which he sent to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 28 May replying to his communication of 23 April, pleading for Mrs. Nasira Begum to be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom.
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§ Mr. RaisonThe text of the reply is as follows
Thank you for your letter of 23rd April enclosing this correspondence about Mrs. Nasira Begum.Mrs. Begum was admitted to the United Kingdom on 27th March 1976 as a visitor and her stay was extended on this basis until 5th December 1976. She then applied for permanent residence on the grounds of marriage to a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies having advertised for a husband in a newspaper. Enquiries revealed that the marriage had broken down within three months and evidence was discovered that her husband was already married and not a bachelor as he had stated to the Registrar. Since it appeared that the marriage was not valid under English law and that it had been entered into principally to enable Mrs. Begum to settle here, the application was refused and she was advised to make arrangements to leave the United Kingdom. As she did not then leave but remained in this country without authority, she was served with notice of intention to make a deportation order against her.Mrs. Begum appealed against this decision and on 30th July 1980 the adjudicator allowed her appeal as he considered that the marriage had been both genuine and valid. While we do not apply for leave to appeal to the Tribunal against adjudicators determinations as a matter of course, the appeal raised a number of points of law which we consider it important to clarify. The Tribunal has granted our application for leave to appeal and I understand a provisional hearing date has been set for 15th June 1981. The case will be fully reviewed in the light of the Tribunal's findings, taking into account the various representations which have been made.(Timothy Raison)