Colin's Journal

The BBC is usually reasonably accurate when it comes to reporting on immigration issues in the UK.  Their current piece on "Beating the sham wedding cheats" however starts with a significant inaccuracy:

The number of bogus weddings has increased dramatically in recent years according to Home Office records.

The scam exploits a legal loophole meaning that foreigners can stay in the UK if they marry an EU citizen working in the country.

My understanding of a legal loophole is that the effect of the law concerned is unintentional.  The freedom to bring your spouse into the EU country where you work is a fundamental one agreed at the EU level, not something accidentally granted through legislative incompetence.

Sham marriages are a problem whether the participant is a UK national or from another EU country.  Restricting the ability of EU nationals to bring their families into the country would hurt a significant number of people, and make little dent in the problem.

I wonder whether the BBC piece is even original work, rather than being taken off a wire, as almost identical wording can be found in the corresponding Guardian article.

Photo: Fungi growing in Mount Pleasant Park, Nova Scotia.