Church crackdown on sham marriages

New guidance will be issued to clergy and legal officers in the Church of England by the House of Bishops agreed with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and with the backing of Immigration Minister Damian Green.

Clergy are being advised not to offer to publish banns – where a couple’s intention to marry is read out on three Sundays in church – for marriages involving non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals.

These couples will have to apply for a “common licence” where they have to swear affidavits, give proof of identity and address, be visited by the vicar and attend wedding preparation classes.

If a vicar is still not satisfied that an intended marriage is genuine, he or she will have to make this clear to the diocesan legal office responsible for granting the licence.

Clergy will have to report a couple “immediately” to diocesan legal officers if they insist on having banns read.

The Church said clergy who refuse to conduct a wedding as a result of the guidance will not be considered guilty of misconduct.

Vicars have also been urged to contact the police immediately should they feel they are being threatened or pressured to carry out a marriage.

The Rt Rev John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, said: “The House of Bishops is clear that the office of holy matrimony must not be misused by those who have no intention of contracting a genuine marriage but merely a sham marriage.

“The purpose of this guidance and direction from the bishops to the clergy and to those responsible for the grant of common licences is, therefore, to prevent the contracting of sham marriages in the Church of England.”