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Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

Primary Purpose Rule 50, introduced in 1980, stated:"““An entry clearance will be refused if the entry clearance officer has reason to believe:""(a) that the marriage was entered in to primarily to obtain admission to the UK””." I am sure that the noble Lord will be very familiar with that, but other Members of the Committee might not be. That is quite different from saying that someone is coming here to get married—that the purpose of their visit is to stop being a fiancé or a fiancée and to become a husband or wife. That is the reason you are coming—you are becoming a family member at that point, as it were. It is a question of asking, ““What date are you getting married””? That is not a subjective judgment. It is not a case of someone saying, ““I think you are marrying him in order to stay in this country””—which was the objection to the primary purpose rule. Someone is simply saying, ““Can you tell us when you are getting married because that is what you are coming here for””? I deliberately chose that example because it demonstrates for me at least very clearly the difference between the primary purpose rule and what we are suggesting. We would not wish to return to that measure, which we repealed, after all.