A man has been arrested and now faces removal from the UK after a suspected sham wedding was raided by Home Office Immigration Enforcement officers in Oxford.

Acting on information that the relationship may not be genuine, officers attended the Register Office on Tidmarsh Lane at around 11am on Wednesday 29 May.

They arrested a 24-year-old Pakistani man who was in the country illegally having over-stayed his visa. He was detained and now faces removal from the UK.

His would-be bride, a 20-year-old Polish woman, was questioned by officers and later released.

The operations were carried out with the full co-operation of the Superintendent Registrar.

Second operation

This was the second operation targeting suspected sham weddings in Oxford in the last two months. On 5 April a Bangladeshi man was arrested in an operation involving Home Office Immigration Enforcement and Thames Valley Police.

Paul Wylie, regional director for Home Office Immigration Enforcement, said:

This is the latest example of the excellent work we are doing in the Thames Valley to clamp down on sham weddings.

We are working closely with registrars across the region to prevent people from abusing the marriage system in a bid to get round our immigration laws.

Where we receive information that a wedding may be suspicious we will investigate and, if necessary, intervene and arrest those involved.

A sham marriage or civil partnership typically occurs when a non-European national marries someone from the European Economic Area as a means of attempting to gain long-term residency and the right to work and claim benefits in the UK.

Anyone with information about immigration crime can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously.