Ban on marriage visas for under-21s thrown out by Supreme Court
The supreme court has ruled the the Home Office's blanket ban on British citizens under 21 bringing spouses to the UK is unlawful, 'arbitrary and disruptive' and said it has done more harm than good.The ruling noted that 5,000 genuine couples a year who are aged 18-21 had been prevented from living together in Britain and that this breached the right to family life as provided by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As part of the Supreme Court ruling, Lord Wilson said, “The secretary of state has failed to establish that interference with the rights of such couples under article eight is justified.”
“The amended rule [to ban marriage visas under 21] has a legitimate aim in deterring the practice of forced marriages and is rationally connected to that aim. But there was insufficient evidence before her that it would have any substantial deterrent effect on forced marriages, nor did she make any sufficient attempt to identify the number of forced marriages amongst the applications for marriage visas between the ages of 18 and 21.
‘On any view, the measure was a sledgehammer but the secretary of state has not attempted to identify the size of the nut’.
The blanket ban on all visas was introduced by the Home Office to deter forced marriages. However, the court disagreed and noted that the “very substantial number” of young couples affected “vastly exceeds” the number of forced marriages that may have been prevented.
Government ministers reacted badly to the judgement with the Immigration Minister, Damian Green, saying the decision was ‘another very disappointing judgement’ and that it would lead to more young people being forced into marriage.
The judgement also comes soon after the Prime Minister’s speech on immigration promising to crack down on immigration abuses and specifically to make forced marriage illegal. As such it is likely that this debate will continue despite this ruling.
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