Arrests made over UK marriage visa scam
November 18 2009 by Liam Clifford
Four arrested, as one man is charged with arranging a sham marriage involving his sister with learning difficulties.
Four people have admitted their part in arranging sham marriages intended to
help Chinese immigrants gain the right to live in the UK permanently.
The
arrests of Michael Wright, Ligang Qiao, Li Fan and Bing Lui were carried out in
Reading on 20 August this year and the group was accused of arranging fake
marriages with the intention of gaining UK marriage visas for Chinese
immigrants.
Wright admitted plotting to arrange the marriage between his
sister, who has learning difficulties, and Ligang Qiao. Wright was to receive
£8,000 in return for ‘selling’ his sister to be used in the marriage.
UK
immigration officials discovered that Wright himself had previously married Li
Fan in an earlier sham wedding in order to gain a UK visa for the Chinese
immigrant. Wright was paid £4,000 in return.
All four pleaded guilty to a
range of UK immigration and fraudulent visa offences and will be sentenced on 22 December.
A
UK Border Agency spokesperson said, “we have successfully stopped an organised
criminal network, who deliberately sought to undermine the UK's immigration
system. They also sought to make considerable gain for themselves by exploiting
other vulnerable people, in Michael Wright's case, his own sister.”
See the latest Immigration News
