Indians are held for marriage of convenience

MANILA: Two Indians have been arrested by the Philippines immigration department for marrying Filipino women for what is being described as marriages of convenience in order to acquire resident status in the country.

Agents of the Bureau of Immigration arrested Pawan Kumar, 32, and Bhattal Singh, 22, on Tuesday from their home in La Loma, Quezon city. They may now be deported back to India, the online edition of Inquirer reported.

“The two Indians will both undergo deportation proceedings for being undesirable aliens as they acquired resident visas by means of fraud and misrepresentation,” said Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

He added, “We are warning other foreigners not to contract a ‘marriage of convenience’ to acquire legal residence here as their visas can be cancelled any time and they will be arrested and deported.”

“Kumar was already married to an Indian woman named Jaswinder Kaur, who arrived in the country on July 5, 2006,” said Victor Boco, technical assistant for intelligence at the immigration department.

Associate Commissioner Orlando Dizon said that the bureau had granted Kumar a temporary resident visa by reason of his supposed marriage to Mary Uson, a Filipino.

“Kumar and Uson’s marriage certificate may either be one of convenience or an utter falsity,” Dizon added.

As for Singh, the immigration officials said it was unusual that the Indian national immediately acquired a five-year temporary visa although he arrived in the country only in March. “This means he married his Filipino wife in a short time,” Boco said.