§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what figures he has for each year since 1990, of the number of non-United Kingdom citizens granted(a) leave to enter the United Kingdom and (b) the right of settlement in the United Kingdom, on the basis of a personal relationship outside marriage with a United Kingdom based person of the opposite sex; and what representations he has received alleging that these arrangements have been, or can be, abused for the purposes of illegal immigration. [18502]
§ Mr. KirkhopeI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells) on 1 May 1995,Official Report, column 102. The corresponding figure for common-law spouses accepted for settlement in 1995 is provisionally 550. The immigration rules do not provide for a person to seek admission to the United Kingdom on the basis of a common-law relationship.
Investigation of applications for leave to remain on the basis of a heterosexual common-law relationship has uncovered abuse of these arrangements.