Migrants who skip wedding can stay in UK

Ruling on ceremony 3,000 miles away

FOREIGN nationals can get UK residency by marrying Eu citizens in overseas ceremonies which they do not have to attend, it emerged last night.

Details of the practice have emerged in the case of a Ghanaian man, who has fought a four-year legal battle to live in Britain following a ‘proxy wedding’ 3,000 miles away.

Neither albert awuku, 43, or his bride – a German citizen who can live in the UK under Eu free movement rules – needed to be present at their nuptials in Ghana in February 2013.

Instead, they are thought to have been represented by their families in accordance with the country’s ‘customary law’.

at such weddings, the groom’s father offers gifts and drink to the bride’s father for her hand in marriage. Months after the couple tied the knot, their marriage was registered in Ghana and the wedding certificate used in Britain in a bid to win residency rights for Mr awuku.

as there were no exit or entry stamps from Ghana or the UK on his passport to show he had attended the ceremony, his marriage was considered by the home Office to have ‘taken place by proxy’.

Then home Secretary Theresa May refused his application for residency because she was not satisfied Mr awuku’s ‘claimed marriage’ was registered in accordance with Ghanaian law.

her decision was later overturned by a judge at a first-tier immigration tribunal – who was happy with the documents provided by the couple and satisfied the wedding was ‘properly executed’.

But Mrs May appealed to a higher tribunal and won. Mr awuku then went to the appeal Court, claiming his human right to a family life with his wife – who is of Ghanaian descent – had been breached.

Now, after a long battle, Mr awuku – represented by human rights barrister Zane Malik and a London-based solicitor specialising in proxy marriages – has scored a major victory at the appeal Court which has paved the way for him to be granted residency in the UK. Lord Justice Lloyd Jones said: ‘The law of England and Wales recognises proxy marriage if valid by the lex loci celebrationis (law of the land). accordingly a spouse of an Eu national who has concluded such a marriage will qualify as a family member.’

The ruling came after current home Secretary amber rudd apparently invited judges to allow the appeal.

Three years ago, a watchdog report said proxy ceremonies – legal in countries including Ghana, Nigeria and Brazil – are becoming increasingly common in immigration applications.

John Vine, chief inspector of borders and immigration, said in 2014 that more than 80 per cent of 29 sample proxy marriages involving an Eu national marrying a non-European spouse proved invalid.

There is no suggestion Mr awuku’s marriage was designed to subvert immigration rules, or that he entered or remained in the UK unlawfully.

The home Office said: ‘a proxy marriage will generally be recognised if it is legally valid in the country in which it was contracted.’

‘Qualify as a family member’