‘Marriage of convenience’ residency claims rejected

AT least 50 applications for change of residency status by non-EU nationals married to Irish people have been turned down by immigration officials over suspicions that they are “marriages of convenience”.

New figures from the Department of Justice show that there have been almost 500 applications to the Spouse of Irish National Unit in the Immigration Services Section of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) in the past year.

However, more than 10% of those applications were refused, or in some cases abandoned, because the applicants did not show that they were living together in Ireland.