As reported by TOI, a Pakistani-origin man and his wife allegedly earned £500,000 by arranging fake weddings in a bid to trick the Home Office. Ayaz Khan, 32, and Jurgita Pavlovskyte, 25, reportedly set up fake weddings of at least 13 South Asian men with Lithuanian women to get them a right to live and work in the UK. 11 of the fake grooms were from Pakistan, one from India, and one from Bangladesh. Jurors heard they were all desperate to stay in the UK after their visas expired. The couple, who are now separated, forged Sainsbury's job offers to bolster the applications for residency
Prosecutor Tom Forster, told the Old Bailey, “The Home Office was fooled. This was not a genuine marriage. This was a put up job. Marriages of convenience were arranged between men from the Indian subcontinent and women for the most part from Lithuania. They were carried out with a view to fooling the immigration authorities of this country into granting permission for the men to continue to live and work in the UK.”
