The Home Office yesterday announced a series of important measures aimed at tackling forced marriage. The measures include:
- The age limit for spouses brought to the UK from overseas has been raised from 18 to 21.
- Before being granted a marriage visa, foreign spouses must promise to learn English.
- British women going abroad to be married have to register their intention before leaving the UK and name their prospective partner.
The government also said that those who arrive on marriage visas but do not attempt to learn English and those who abuse their immigration status once in the UK could be deported.
These measures are long overdue and will have an important impact both on reducing the prevalence of honour-based violence and forced marriages in immigrant communities as well as speeding up integration among second and third-generation immigrant families.
The government's measures closely mirror the recommendations made in the Centre for Social Cohesion's report 'Crimes of the Community: Honour-based violence in the UK' which was published in February.
