Task 38. Read the article below and say what crime is reflected in it. What are its underlying reasons?

What gente is the piece? Make its linguistic analysis. Identify all realia in it.

Sham marriages on “unprecedented scale”

Tom Pugh

The scale of the sham marriages was on an unprecedented scale involving “classic exploitation” of foreign nationals desperate to stay in the UK, investigators said.

Cash-strapped Eastern Europeans were promised sums of up to £3,000 to marry Africans to help them gain residency in the UK and a chance of a better life.

Through gaining indefinite leave to stay in the UK, the Africans, mainly from Nigeria, would be able to enjoy Britain’s education, healthcare and social benefits systems. A large proportion of the Africans who went through with the sham marriages had arrived lawfully in the UK, either through the asylum process or by gaining a student visa.

Investigators said it was when they had “reached the end of the line” in their legal applications and appeals to stay in the UK permanently that they went through the sham marriage process. Files recovered as part of the inquiry showed that, in some cases, Africans were already married and had children in their homeland.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins, of the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) South East region immigration crime team, said: “In the majority of the cases, the reason that most went through with the marriage process was not for love, it was to assist in their application to residency into the UK.”

Both sets of participants were equally vulnerable. The Eastern Europeans tended to be poor migrant workers who found their dreams of making good money gave way to hardship.

Ken Goss, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “It’s classic exploitation. People come into this country expecting jobs, a good life and all that brings with it, then they find themselves in difficult positions and they become vulnerable.”

Officers working on Operation Gomozia arrested the Rev Alex Brown on June 30 last year, along with Buchak, an illegal immigrant and gambler who used the alias Kaido Maesalu.

Further investigations identified pastor and solicitor Michael Adelasoye, who had worked as an immigration adviser at several firms of solicitors.

Before going on trial, Brown pleaded guilty to a charge of solemnising a marriage according to the rites of the Church of England without banns of matrimony being duly published.

The Independent, July 29, 2010

Task 39. Watch Video 60 to see how the sham mariage scheme works. You may need the words and expressions listed below.

to cheat an imigration adviser

a spouse visa to expose

a permament residency a fake marriage a fake bride / groom

non-resident law an illegal marriage

a fixer legal advice

scam lucrative honeymoon

Border Agency inspectors an undercover journalist

to overturn the reulations

the Home Office certificate of approval

Task 40. Watch the Video again and restore the context in which the lexical units above are mentioned. Find more special terms in the piece.

Why are sham marriages on the rise in the UK?

Task 41. Revise the vocabulary of Unit 16 (Tasks 1, 8, 21, 25, 39) and get prepared to write a quiz.