Syed Basharat Hussain
As a common saying goes ‘marriages are celebrated in heaven’ in which two persons shares a common bond of love, but presently this saying appears to be have lost relevance because now a day’s intents of the most of the marriages remain hidden . Some people want money, some want fame and now we have a new intention – to get a passport for foreign lands and permanent resident-ship. The growing westernized mind-set of Indians blinds them to the trap of these marriages. People don’t find enough opportunities to earn well that is why they are lured towards foreign lands in order to acquire money, name & fame. So there is a need to highlight such issues so that people understand the situation. The condition of those who have undergone the trauma of a fake marriage have gone unnoticed.
According to latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics nearly three lakh Indians migrated and settled in Australia between 2000 and 2016. On November 19,2018, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that there would be a cut on the annual migrant intake of 190,000 citing the reason that the Australians are concerned about the population. Furthermore He said that the roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full. The school establishments are taking no more enrolments and so there is a clear voice among populations that enough is enough. The Australian High Commission cautioned Indian nationals who are planning to shift to Australia against organised contrived marriage scams targeting South Asians. Recently, Australian Border Force (ABF) busted a racket of an “elaborate contrived marriage syndicate” being run by an Indian along-with a few local Australians and Australian High Commission strongly warned Indians not to fall for fake marriage scams offering permanent residency.
Last year In a statement the High Commission said the long-running operation by the ABF had resulted in 164 foreign nationals having their applications for a “partner visa” were refused after they were linked to the syndicate. None of the participants in this scam obtained permanent residency. Some of these clients paid huge money, for the same. Usually these particular syndicates are attempting to illegally facilitate fake marriages with non-citizens in the South Asians.
According to ABF such syndicates undermine the integrity of Australia’s visa program and exploit desperate individuals. In fact, as the High Commission in Delhi noted, these types of scams generally target vulnerable young Australian women, many of whom come from disadvantaged and low socio-economic backgrounds. According to Business Today Story on the said subject 2018,(Many of the women involved in these scams have suffered a history of substance abuse, family violence and financial hardship, and are lured in with promises of substantial payments. Protecting the integrity of the visa system is an operational priority for the ABF and anyone found to be involved in or facilitating sham marriages should expect to be investigated and face criminal prosecution. Registered agents and marriage celebrants also face losing their registration. ABF has also been successful in combating contrived marriages in Victoria, with one individual being sentenced to six months imprisonment for fraud offences against the Migration Act).
According to Sims(ABF acting investigations commander ), Many of the women involved in these scams have suffered a history of substance abuse, family violence and financial hardship, and are lured in with promises of substantial payments. Those seeking a visa through a contrived marriage need to understand that paying a facilitator will not buy them a permanent visa Australia. There is rarely any financial recourse in the event that their partner visa application is unsuccessful. According to ABF, 32-year-old Jagjit Singh the key ‘facilitator’ of the syndicate attempted to marry non-citizens to Australian citizens in order to obtain permanent residency for the latter in return for large amounts of money. Singh has been charged with four counts of violation under Australian migration law, which could lead to a maximum penalty of $210,000 in fine or ten years in prison – or both.
This scam was reported on November 1,2018 when ABF disclosed that a ‘long-running operation’ had resulted in the partner visa applications of 164 foreign nationals being rejected. Along with Jagjit Singh, four other Australian citizens are also facing charges for convincing women to marry the applicants who wanted permanent residency.
India must strictly set up an international network to crackdown on fake marriages rackets. The Government of India must create Special Cells in every country or wherever required to keep check and balance on this menace and the guilty must be punished under law .
(Author is a freelancer. Views are his own [email protected])
