Sham Marriage: What the Law Means and How Investigations Work

By Iblal IqbalPublished 18 September 2026Last reviewed 18 September 202612 mins read12 sections

Part of: International Family Law Specialists

A letter saying the register office has referred your wedding to the Home Office can make the words “sham marriage” feel like an accusation, even when your relationship is real. In UK law, the term means a marriage with no genuine relationship behind it, made to get around immigration rules, where at least one partner is not a “relevant national” (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s.24(5)). A referral is not a finding against you. The registrar must refer any wedding where one of you is not an exempt person (Marriage Act 1949, s.28H). While you plan, think too about what each of you brings to the marriage, which our guide to prenuptial agreements covers.

This guide gives family-law information for England and Wales, not immigration advice. For visa or right-to-stay questions, GOV.UK explains how to find an immigration adviser.

Reviewed by: Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA), Kabir Family Law

What is a sham marriage? The meaning in law

The legal definition comes from one section of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. A marriage counts as a sham only if all three of these are true (s.24(5)):

• at least one of you is not a relevant national, which broadly means a British or Irish citizen, or someone with EU Settlement Scheme status;
• there is no genuine relationship between you;
• one or both of you marry to avoid UK immigration rules, or to gain a right to live in the UK.

The same test covers civil partnerships (s.24A). People also say “sham wedding”, but the Acts use the word “sham” for marriages and civil partnerships alike. Home Office guidance tells officers not to confuse consensual arranged marriages with forced ones, and to allow for cultural differences (Marriage investigations guidance).

The definition applies “whether or not” the marriage is void, so a marriage certificate alone does not settle the question.

Does a referral mean the Home Office thinks your marriage is a sham?

No. When you give notice, the registrar must decide whether each of you is an exempt person (s.28H). You count as exempt if you are a relevant national, have settlement in the UK, have an exemption from immigration control, or hold a visa for coming here to marry (Immigration Act 2014, s.49). If either of you is not exempt, or cannot produce the evidence of status the law asks for, the registrar must refer the wedding.

The Home Office then has 28 days to decide whether to investigate, and can do so only if at least one of you is not exempt and it has reasonable grounds to suspect a sham (s.48). Registrars must also report a suspected sham, even during or just after the ceremony (s.24).

The registrar will also tell you to let the Home Office know if your address changes. The referral is automatic, but missing evidence of your status can, on its own, send your wedding plans into the scheme.

What happens in a sham marriage investigation?

If the Home Office decides to investigate, it writes to both of you and to the register office. The wait before you can marry then grows from 28 to 70 days (Sch. 3A, para 3). Here is the outline, and where couples come unstuck.

1. The decision letter. It must give the date the 70-day period ends and explain that further requirements may follow (Immigration Act 2014, s.51).
2. Requests for information. The Home Office may ask for information, evidence or photographs, and set a time to respond.
3. Interviews. These can take place in person, by phone or by video link. A “no comment” answer without a reasonable excuse can count as not complying.
4. Home visits. Officers can visit a home where they suspect involvement in a sham.
5. The compliance decision. Within the 70 days, the Home Office decides whether each of you has complied, and gives reasons if not (s.50).

If you both comply, the registrar can let the wedding go ahead, as long as no other legal reason stands in the way. If either of you does not, you cannot marry on that notice. And a compliance notice is not a verdict: the Home Office can still form a separate view of your relationship later.

Had a letter about an investigation? Don’t guess at what it means for your wedding or your family. Book a free initial consultation, and one of our specialists will give you initial advice on the family-law side of your situation.

How does the Home Office decide if a marriage is a sham?

It asks whether a sham is more likely than not, which the law calls the balance of probabilities. Interview questions can cover how your relationship began and carried on, your backgrounds and families, and your immigration history. The guidance tells officers to follow up any inconsistencies in your answers, and not to ask inappropriately intrusive questions, for example about your sex life.

No single fact decides it. The guidance describes signs that are “circumstantial and inconclusive” on their own, and it accepts that things which might normally raise questions can have a plausible explanation.

If the Home Office concludes that a marriage is a sham, it may take enforcement or casework action, such as refusing an immigration application based on the relationship. An immigration adviser can help with those decisions. The family-law point is simpler: that decision does not end your marriage, and it does not settle what happens to your home, money or children.

What penalties can follow a sham marriage?

Home Office guidance lists the main types of offence linked to sham marriages. They include facilitation (helping people enter the UK illegally), conspiracy to facilitate, deception, bigamy and perjury. For example, knowingly and wilfully making a false declaration or notice for a marriage is an offence carrying up to seven years on conviction in the Crown Court (Perjury Act 1911, s.3).

A criminal case needs proof beyond reasonable doubt, but the Home Office does not need that before it refuses or cancels permission on these grounds (Suitability guidance). So immigration consequences can arise without any conviction. Anyone facing a criminal allegation needs specialist criminal advice straight away.

Sometimes a person faces pressure to marry against their will. The family court can make an order to protect them (Family Law Act 1996, s.63A), and our page on forced marriage protection orders explains how. In an emergency, call 999.

Is a sham marriage still a legal marriage?

It can be. The law lists the only grounds that make a marriage void, such as one of you already having a spouse or civil partner, being under 18, or ignoring the legal formalities (s.11). A separate list sets out the only grounds that make a marriage voidable, such as a lack of valid consent (s.12). Marrying for immigration reasons is not a ground on either list in its own right. Our guide to marriage annulment explains those narrow grounds.

If the marriage is valid, the way to end it is a divorce (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.1). The court can then make financial orders (s.23), as our divorce specialists page explains. If you assume a marriage “doesn’t count” and never end it, the marriage still exists in law, and any new marriage you entered would be void (s.11).

Think your partner married you for a visa? Where you stand

Fearing that someone married you for the wrong reasons is painful, and it can make you doubt everything. The family-law questions, though, are practical ones. Is the marriage valid? How would it end? What happens to your home and your money?

The Act does not list a partner’s hidden reasons for marrying as a ground for annulment in its own right (s.12), so a divorce may still be the route that applies. Raising immigration motives in a family case is a serious step, too. Our guide to family proceedings and immigration explains how judges approach that overlap.

Anger can push people into quick moves. If either of you moves money or property to defeat a financial claim, the court can stop or undo it (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.37), so a hasty step can backfire.

What does reporting a sham marriage involve?

Registrars have a legal duty to report a suspected sham (s.24). Anyone else can use the GOV.UK service to report an immigration or border crime, which names this among the crimes it covers. You do not have to give your name, and the page says the Home Office treats the information as confidential.

A report is not a family-law step, though. It does not end a marriage, decide who stays in the home, or settle arrangements for children. If your own relationship is ending, those questions still need their own answers, and what you do first can affect them.

Sham marriage checklist: are you on track?

Tick what is already true. The gaps show what to raise before your next step.

Frequently asked questions

Expert Tip

After a referral, couples often focus only on the interview and forget the basics. Before the day, make sure any earlier marriage has a final order, keep every letter together, and answer each request by its deadline, because an unexplained gap can stop you marrying on that notice. If either of you brings property or savings into the marriage, take advice on that early as well.

Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist