HC Deb 26 April 1999 vol 330 cc78-9W
Mr. Stringer

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on unannounced visits to check if a marriage is one of convenience for immigration purposes. [82013]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

The Department's policy is to make unannounced visits in cases where caseworking staff consider, from the evidence available and from prior checks, that there are strong grounds to suspect that the couple are not living together or that the marriage is otherwise not genuine.