Marriages of convenience through the immigration lens: concepts, issues, impact and policies

This article examines the attempts made by both the Executive and Parliament to curb marriages of convenience through the revision of refugee and immigration laws. Asylum seekers or economic migrants use marriages of convenience largely to legitimise their stay in South Africa. South African authorities regard these marriages of convenience as a threat both to South African society as they violate pro-marriage policies and anti-irregular migrant policies, and to national security as they defeat the object of the institution of marriage. In this context, the article explores the complexities of combating marriages of convenience on the basis of the principle of consent on which a valid marriage is fundamentally constructed, and also on the basis of an analysis of judicial opinions holding that a marriage of convenience must be terminated by a decree of divorce.