Sham marriage immigration attempts rise

Immigration officials claim there has been a significant increase in the amount of people seeking Australian residence through sham marriages.

In 2004-2005 the Immigration department received 1,909 allegations of ‘sham’ marriages and relationships, a rise of 22.4 percent since 2003-04. An annual summary of statistics concerning border compliance illustrates that during the same time, the department finished handling 1,796 allegations of sham marriages, which represents a 19 percent increase. There were 1,796 matters which were finalised, 1,145 of which required administrative action. In addition 15 cases were referred to the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions. Currently, 6 of the cases referred have led to convictions.

Statistics from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) illustrate the claims of sham marriages have increased significantly since 2000-01 with the majority taking place in NSW and Victoria. DIMA claims that the main objective of contrived marriages is for people to get Australian residence. Moreover, such actions endanger the immigration process by enabling otherwise ineligible people to come to Australia generating a perception that sham marriages were an opportune way of coming to Australia.

The report pointed out that organised ‘fake’ relationships and marriages were on the top of the priority list for DIMIA investigations and people who are convicted could be facing fines of up to $100,000 or ten years in prison.

The report outlines that there has been an increase in all types of migration document fraud over the last 5 years. On a positive note, document fraud detected at Australian airports has significantly decreased from a height of more than 300 cases in 2000-01 to approximately 100 in 2004-05.

With visa and passport fraud the general method is photograph substitution.