Sham marriages keep Immigration Department busy

The Belgian Immigration Department has its hands full when it comes to detecting possible sham marriages in the country. In 2012, the department launched no less than 9,064 investigations into marriages of convenience for legal purposes. While this number is slightly lower than in 2011 (10,728), it has remained more or less stable at around 10,000 investigations per year since 2009. State Secretary for Asylum and Immigration, Maggie De Block (Open VLD), is calling for stricter rules to tackle this specific kind of immigration fraud. "We have seen an increase in the number of sham marriages by way of children, so-called family reunification" De Block told Het Laatste Nieuws. "That's when, for example, a man pays a mother to claim that he is the father of her child, in order for him to get a residence permit." As it is now, the mother's word is enough to allow the "father" to recognise a child. The Immigration and Justice Departments are working together to come up with a preventive solution.