The Jamestown Colony of Virginia almost collapsed.

Marcia Zug writes (The Atlantic, August

2016) that “barely a decade after its founding in 1607, Jamestown was almost entirely male,
and because these men were unable to find wives, they were deserting the colony in
droves.”

The colony’s leaders came up with the notion of advertising in Britain for women
willing to settle in the New World. They were looking for “young, handsome, and
honestly educated maids;” they had to be devout Christians of course.

In the new colony, there was land and the hope of prosperity; in England, all the land
was taken and poverty stalked the underclass. For some women, the notion of a life
of drudgery in service to the genteel classes was a sufficient push to encourage
them to take up the challenge. Others were motivated by a sense of adventure. For
the men, there was the promise of someone to run their household and look after
their creature comforts.

Between 1619 and 1621 almost 150 women answered the call.

Bullough argues that prostitution in 18th-century Britain was a convenience to men of all social
statuses, and economic necessity for many poor women, and was tolerated by society. The
evangelical movement of the nineteenth century denounced the prostitutes and their clients as
sinners, and denounced society for tolerating it.[21] Prostitution, according to the values of the
Victorian middle-class, was a horrible evil, for the young women, for the men, and for all of
society. Parliament in the 1860s in the Contagious Diseases Acts ("CD") adopted the French
system of licensed prostitution. The "regulationist policy" was to isolate, segregate, and control
prostitution. The main goal was to protect working men, soldiers and sailors near ports and army
bases from catching venereal disease. Young women officially became prostitutes and were
trapped for life in the system. After a nationwide crusade led by Josephine Butler and the Ladies
National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, Parliament repealed the
acts in 1886 and ended legalised prostitution. Butler became a sort of saviour to the girls she
helped free. The age of consent for young women was raised from 12 to 16, undercutting the
supply of young prostitutes who were in highest demand. The new moral code meant that
respectable men dared not be caught

The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 (c.2) is an Act of Parliament of the United
Kingdom. The purpose of the Act was to exempt the selection of candidates in parliamentary
elections from the provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Sex Discrimination
(Northern Ireland) Order 1976 that outlaw sexual discrimination. The purposes of the Act allow
political parties to select candidates based on gender in an effort to increase representation of
women in British politics.
The Act applies to elections to:

 the House of Commons;

 the Scottish Parliament;
 the National Assembly for Wales;
 the Northern Ireland Assembly;
 Local Government Elections (including the London Assembly); and
 the European Parliament.
The Act does not apply to selection of candidates for the Mayor of London elections. Only
political parties registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act
2000 are covered by the Act.
The Act was originally scheduled to run until the end of 2015. On 6 March 2008, Minister for
Women Harriet Harman announced that the exemption would be extended until 2030 under
the Equality Act 2010.[89][90]
The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation
(Scotland) Act 2005 made it an offence to arrange FGM outside the country for British citizens or
permanent residents, whether or not it is lawful in the country to which the girl is taken. [91][92][93][94][95]
[96]
The first prosecutions took place in 2015 against a doctor for performing FGM and another
man for aiding and abetting; both were found not guilty.[97]
The Equality Act 2006 (c 3) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a precursor to
the Equality Act 2010, which combines all of the equality enactments within Great Britain and
provides comparable protections across all equality strands. Those explicitly mentioned by the
Equality Act 2006 include gender; disability; age; proposed, commenced or completed gender
reassignment; race; religion or belief and sexual orientation. Among other things, it created a
public duty to promote equality on the ground of gender (The Equality Act 2006, section 84,
inserting section 76A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, now found in section 1 of the Equality
Act 2010.)
Since 2007, Harriet Harman has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, the UK's current
opposition party. Traditionally, being Deputy Leader has ensured the cabinet role of Deputy
Prime Minister. However, Gordon Brown announced that he would not have a Deputy Prime
Minister, much to the consternation of feminists,[98] particularly with suggestions that privately
Brown considered Jack Straw to be de facto deputy prime minister[99] and thus bypassing
Harman. With Harman's cabinet post of Leader of the House of Commons, Brown allowed her to
chair Prime Minister's Questions when he was out of the country. Harman also held the
post Minister for Women and Equality.
The Equality Act 2010[100] is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom; the primary purpose of
the Act is to codify the complicated and numerous array of Acts and Regulations, which formed
the basis of anti-discrimination law in Great Britain. This was, primarily, the Equal Pay Act 1970,
the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act
1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting against discrimination in employment on
grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age. It requires equal treatment in access to
employment as well as private and public services, regardless of the protected characteristics of
sex, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief,
and sexual orientation. In the case of gender, there are special protections for pregnant women.
The Act does not guarantee transsexuals' access to gender-specific services where restrictions
are "a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim".[101] Under s.217, with limited
exceptions the Act does not apply to Northern Ireland.
In April 2012 after being sexually harassed on London public transport English journalist Laura
Bates founded the Everyday Sexism Project, a website which documents everyday examples of
sexism experienced by contributors from around the world. The site quickly became successful
and a book compilation of submissions from the project was published in 2014.
In 2013, the first oral history archive of the United Kingdom women's liberation movement
(titled Sisterhood and After) was launched by the British Library.[102]
Sisters Uncut was founded in 2014 to take direct action in response to cuts to domestic violence
services by the UK government, which has included demonstrating against cuts at 7 October
London premiere of the 2015 film Suffragette. Sisters Uncut organises intersectionally and see
the struggle against racism and borders as intimately connected to the struggle against violence
towards women.
In 2016, a British receptionist was dismissed for not wearing high heels and she then started a
petition which attracted sufficient support to be considered by the UK Parliament. Outsourcing
firm Portico stated that Nicola Thorp "had signed the appearance guidelines" but after Thorp
launched her online petition—"Make it illegal for a company to require women to wear high heels
at work"—the firm changed their policy. The new guideline states that all female employees "can
wear plain flat shoes or plain court shoes as they prefer."[103] The petition gained widespread
support from public figures such as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and MPs Caroline
Dinenage, Margot James and Tulip Siddiq.[104][105] Two parliamentary committees in January 2017
decided that Portico had broken the law; the company had already changed its terms of
employment.[104][106] The petition gained over 130,000 signatures, sufficient for a debate in the
British parliament.[107] This took place on 6 March 2017, when MPs decided the UK government
should change the law to prevent the demand being made by employers.[108][106] However, this was
rejected by the government in April 2017 as they stated that existing legislation was "adequate".
[109]

An increase in the number of prostitutes originating from overseas in the 21st century led to
concerns regarding allegations of human trafficking and forced prostitution. The Sexual Offences
Act 2003 included sections making sex trafficking a specific offence. A Home
Office review Paying the Price was carried out in 2004. It focused on projects to divert women
from entering prostitution, and to engage with those already trapped to help them exit. [64] A
second Home Office review, Tackling the demand for prostitution (2008), proposed the
development of a new offence to criminalise those who pay for sex with a person who is being
controlled against their wishes for someone else's gain.[64] This approach to prostitution began to
make legislative progress in 2008, as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that paying for
sex from a prostitute under the control of a pimp would become a criminal offence. Clients could
also face rape charges for knowingly paying for sex from an illegally trafficked woman, and first-
time offenders could face charges.[65] The Policing and Crime Act 2009 made it an offence to pay
for the services of a prostitute "subjected to force",[66] introduced closure orders for brothels and
made other provisions in relation to prostitution.
Some differing local approaches to policing have been tried. In Ipswich a version of the "Nordic
model" was implemented in 2007 following the Ipswich serial murders. In Leeds unsuccessful
initiatives to suppress prostitution were followed in 2014 by the introduction of local regulation.
[67]
An experimental "managed" prostitution zone was set up in Holbeck, Leeds to allow prostitutes
to work in a designated area between 7 pm and 7 am without the risk of prosecution.[68] It was
made permanent in January 2016[69] and the BBC made the documentary series Sex, Drugs &
Murder: Life in the Red Light Zone about the zone.[70] The zone was ended in March 2020.
[71]
Gwent Police considered similar plans in 2015 for a part of Pillgwenlly in Newport, Wales
The Policing and Crime Act 2009 (together with the Sexual Offences Act 2003) replaced most
aspects of previous legislation relating to prostitution, although previous acts still remain in force.
Working as a prostitute in private is not an offence, and neither is working as an outcall escort,
nor is it illegal for prostitutes to sell sex at a brothel provided they are not involved in
management or control of the brothel.[73][74] Street prostitution, however, is illegal.

Is prostitution legal in the UK?

Within the UK, some forms of sex work such as lap-dancing are legal,
whilst prostitution is partially decriminalised. This means that although it is not a
criminal activity to exchange sex for money, many of the activities surrounding
prostitution are criminalised.

While selling sex is legal in the UK, keeping a brothel -

defined as more than one sex worker working from premises
- is not.

Those who work with others can be prosecuted.

 Advertisement

As the English Collective of Prostitutes tells sex workers on

its website: "If you work with someone else in a flat you can
be done for running a brothel, even if you are not there at the
same time."

Emily, whose name has been changed to protect her identity,

began working in the industry in the 1980s and went back to it
after becoming a single mother.

She now works with another sex worker for her own
protection.

"How can we keep ourselves safe when we're on our own?"

she told Sky News. "It puts you in danger on a daily basis."

She called it "draconian" that she could end up with at least

seven years in prison for running the flat if caught by police.

"You live in fear of what can go wrong... a knock on the door

can mean that you're criminalised yet what you do is spend
all day trying to make people happy," she said.

"We're not actually doing anything that's criminal," she said.

"It's the laws that are criminal."

Countries like New Zealand have decriminalised sex work -

including brothel-keeping - which Emily supports.

She and other sex workers want decriminalisation in the UK

because they believe it would give them the same legal
protection and access to workers' rights as in other industries.

"Mothers will do what they have to do to look after their

children," she said. "Nobody should be criminalised for it."

"People think it's a dark side of life a lot of the time where
actually it isn't," she said. "There are some lovely people in
the industry. They've all got their own reasons for being there
and actually quite enjoy doing what they're doing a lot of the
time."

Emily has looked for other opportunities for work, but this is
currently her best option for making ends meet.

"We need recognising as workers and members of society,

council tax payers, mothers, people's neighbours - not
aliens," she said. "We're just normal people."

She is "disappointed" and "saddened" that police are still

making arrests for alleged brothel-keeping during the
pandemic, and said many sex workers have fallen into
hardship while unable to work during strict lockdown
measures.

She and others have had to "police themselves", deciding

their own "COVID secure" measures.

If anything were to happen to her at work she wouldn't be

able to call the police for fear of being arrested.

Sky News sent freedom of information requests to 45 police

forces asking for the number of arrests for suspected brothel-
keeping offences from January 2017 to the end of August
2020.

At least 64 people were arrested between January and

August this year.

Kent Police disclosed the highest number of arrests of any

force, with 99 since 2017.

Other hotspots included Thames Valley (45 arrests),

Bedfordshire (32) and London (27).
Northamptonshire Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary,
South Yorkshire Police, and Merseyside Police refused to
provide any information.

Many of the arrests do not result in prosecutions, with figures

from the Ministry of Justice revealing that only 48 people
were put on trial from 2017 to 2019.

Laura Watson, a spokeswoman for the English Collective of

Prostitutes, has dealt with many cases where the arrest was
"ridiculous" and there was "no public interest" in prosecuting
the individuals concerned.

She said sometimes arrests were made where it was "just a

landlord-tenant relationship" with "no force and coercion", in
which the person detained for suspected brothel-keeping was
a landlord that had "nothing to do with the running of the
business".

Earlier this week, a Labour MP called on the government to

"criminalise buying sex", a proposal Ms Watson described as
"outrageous".

Dame Diana Johnson, who leads a group tackling sexual

exploitation, said that men in the UK who paid for sex were
"fuelling" a "brutal" sex-trafficking trade that was destroying
lives.

"Sex trafficking is already illegal," Ms Watson told Sky News.

"You don't need to increase the criminalisation of consenting
sex in order to implement the criminalisation of violence
against women, which is already against the law."

She said many campaigners "don't look at the evidence" from

other countries where violence against sex workers increased
after purchasing sex became illegal.

"What kind of feminism is that?" she asked.

Ms Watson said that criminalising clients would just take
away the only option for some women to earn an income.

"If you're serious about reducing prostitution then you have to

deal with women's poverty," she added.

She said many migrant sex workers don't come forward to

report violence because it invites police to ask them about
their immigration status and deport them if they do not have
the right paperwork.

Laura Agustin, an anthropologist who studies undocumented

migration, said many women who arrive in Europe find
themselves with two alternatives to make money: cleaning
houses or selling sex.

"Many say they'd rather die than sell sex and many others
say they wouldn't be caught dead cleaning houses," she told
Sky News. "Lots of women try both jobs.

"The point is sex work pays 10 or more times more than

cleaning, allowing women to pay back the debts they have to
intermediaries who helped them travel in what's properly
called people-smuggling."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Published National

Police Chief's Council guidance makes clear that the safety of
those involved in sex work must be prioritised by police forces
above enforcement action.

"We have no plans to change the law around prostitution and

are committed to tackling the harm and exploitation
associated with sex work."
Laura Agustin, an anthropologist who studies undocumented
mi
Last year Theresa May announced new legislation to end human
trafficking and modern slavery, describing it as the “evil in our midst”.
Figures from the National Crime Agency in September estimated that
2,744 people, including 602 children, were trafficked for exploitation in
the UK in 2013, a 22% increase on 2012, and forced to work in brothels,
in domestic servitude, or exploited in factories, farms and building sites.
Since this is such a hidden issue, the actual numbers are assumed to be
much higher.

On Tuesday, parliament will scrutinise the modern slavery bill for its
third reading in the House of Commons. Although the bill – which the
government trumpets as “the first of its kind in Europe” – is broadly
welcomed for forcing the issue on to the political agenda, there is dismay
from charities working with the victims of trafficking. Campaigners say
the bill is tilted too heavily towards prosecuting traffickers, without
providing enough support for their victims.

‘I came to the UK and I was

turned into a prostitute’ –
trafficked women share their
horrific stories
When trafficked women finally break free of their abusers, they
turn in desperation to the authorities. This is only the start of a
new nightmare. Four women describe their slavery, escape and
further detention by officials they thought would help them
Campaigners say the modern slavery bill doesn’t provide enough support for
victims. Photograph: Jessica Islam Lia/Getty Images/Flickr RF
Modern-day slavery in focus is supported by

About this content

Amelia Gentleman
@ameliagentleman
Mon 3 Nov 2014 18.00 GMT



277

L ast year Theresa May announced new legislation to end

human trafficking and modern slavery, describing it as the “evil

in our midst”. Figures from the National Crime Agency in
September estimated that 2,744 people, including 602 children,
were trafficked for exploitation in the UK in 2013, a 22%
increase on 2012, and forced to work in brothels, in domestic
servitude, or exploited in factories, farms and building sites.
Since this is such a hidden issue, the actual numbers are
assumed to be much higher.

On Tuesday, parliament will scrutinise the modern slavery bill for

its third reading in the House of Commons. Although the bill –
which the government trumpets as “the first of its kind in
Europe” – is broadly welcomed for forcing the issue on to the
political agenda, there is dismay from charities working with the
victims of trafficking. Campaigners say the bill is tilted too
heavily towards prosecuting traffickers, without providing
enough support for their victims.

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The charity Eaves, which runs the Poppy Project to support

trafficked women, is concerned that the bill won’t end the double
trauma that most trafficking victims currently face. Dorcas
Erskine, who works for the Poppy Project, says: “A lot of the
women we have supported face two nightmares – the brutality of
the slavery-like conditions their traffickers have imposed on
them, and, post-escape, getting officials to believe them or, even
worse, finding themselves imprisoned for crimes their traffickers
forced them to commit.” Because of this lack of support, very few
of the women Eaves helps are willing to get involved in
prosecuting their traffickers, and many remain vulnerable, often
ending up in the hands of new exploiters.

The stories of four recently trafficked women reveal how

frequently they are disbelieved.
When Ellie, 32, describes the first part of her life, she races through the
disturbing details in a neutral tone; the problems she experienced as a
child and a young woman are not what makes her angry. She grew up in
a slum outside Kampala in Uganda. She was sent to live with another
family when she was seven and sexually abused by the head of the
household; when she turned 15, she was forced to marry him. He was
violent, so when a neighbour offered to help her escape to a new life
abroad, she agreed.

She was taken by plane to the UK with a group of six other women. Ellie
thought that she was going to work as a cleaner, but on the day she
arrived, she was driven to the home of a white man who told her she
would have to work as a prostitute to pay back her debts for the passport
and air travel. For two years she was locked in a house with the other
women, and periodically driven to customers’ homes.

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She only escaped when a sympathetic client gave her £60 and explained
how to get to London. In London, she met a man who allowed her to stay
with him, but who quickly began to ask for sex in exchange for shelter.
One night when he was violently abusive, she called the police.

This is the moment, in a life story of unmitigated misfortune, when you

might expect that things would begin to improve. However, it marked the
beginning of a new wave of difficulty, and this is where she begins to get
angry. She was taken to hospital, but not treated; later the police took
her to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and told she had no
visa. Since she had only been given a passport to hold for a few seconds
when she passed border control at the airport, she knew nothing about
visas.

“They were asking each other: ‘Did she come here legally or illegally?’
The way they were talking was very intimidating. They didn’t ask about
the attack. They were more interested in why I was staying in the country
without a visa.” The man who hit her was not arrested, but she was taken
to Yarl’s Wood detention centre. “I’d never been in detention before. It
felt like a prison: being locked up, eating your food at certain times,
sleeping at certain times. Most of the time you can’t go outside; you can
barely see daylight.”

The other inmates laughed at her when they found out she had called the
police, and told her she was stupid to have expected them to help her.
She was quickly put on suicide watch because she told staff that she
would kill herself rather than be deported back to a country where she
would be in danger from her husband and her traffickers. “They wouldn’t
let me buy tinned food in case I took the tin and cut myself; they watched
me while I showered in case I hanged myself,” she says. For a while she
regretted having escaped from her trafficker, and thought returning to
her existence as a sex slave might be preferable.

It was only when she was in Yarl’s Wood that she realised she had been
trafficked. “So many of the women I met in detention had been trafficked.
I don’t think the police who interviewed me knew about trafficking. They
were more interested in catching someone for being an illegal migrant
than in helping someone who has called for help. All they were talking
about was deporting me,” she says.

It was only when a sympathetic guard suggested that she put her name
down for legal aid that she was put in touch with Eaves. Her asylum
claim on the grounds of trafficking was rejected initially, but with Eaves’
help, this was overturned.

She wishes there was greater awareness of trafficking throughout the

system. If border staff had been on the lookout for people-trafficking
when she arrived in the UK, she would have been prevented from coming
into the country. “If they had stopped me on the border, I would have
been so much happier; I wouldn’t have done all the bad things that I was
made to do. But I came here and I was turned into a prostitute.”

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She is calm when we speak; very articulate and very angry about what
has happened to her. “Putting trafficked people in prison – that is the
worst part of it. You have gone through bad times, and then you find
yourself in detention, told you are going to be deported back to the
traffickers. That man is still there and he is still bringing in women.
That’s why I’m so upset.”

arsha, 22, grew up in Albania, her childhood overshadowed by a violent

father who arranged for her to get married when she was 19 to a man
she didn’t know. The wedding went ahead; her new husband moved to
Greece to work, and she moved into her in-laws’ home, where she was
bullied and unhappy. She met a young man through a friend on her
hairdressing course. He told her how sorry he felt for her and, after a
while, she agreed to run away with him to live abroad.

He brought her to the UK, where he left her with two Albanian men. She
never saw him again. She was told that from now on, she would be
working for them as a prostitute. When she screamed and protested, one
of the men took off his belt and beat her. She was locked in the flat, given
meals twice a day, raped and beaten repeatedly. On average, she was
forced to have sex with five men a day. She was told that if she tried to
escape, the traffickers would find her and kill her or her family.

One day, however, she found the doors unlocked, and she escaped. She
got to a coach station (she found out that day that she was being held in
Liverpool) and got on a bus to London. She was wearing only slippers
and was in the early stages of pregnancy. Two women from Kosovo saw
her crying and offered her a place to stay in London, but this place was
only temporary. She had no passport, because it remained with the
traffickers.

“I was scared to go to the authorities, I was scared that they would send
me back to my country,” she says. When she did tell the Home Office
about her experiences, she was struck by their insensitivity. “They
seemed as though they were in a hurry, they were just doing their job,
they had heard this story too many times before.”

She was interviewed by the Home Office about her trafficking

experiences, but her application for asylum was rejected in 2012. “They
said in some points, I wasn’t believable. You want to be believed. You
hope other people will believe you.”

It was only when she went to court for a second time that the judge
believed her and her application was accepted. “I’ve told my story maybe
10 times, 15 times – in hospital, in council offices, to the Home Office. It’s
not nice. In hospital when I was pregnant, they asked me about the
father of my baby. I said I don’t know and I had to explain. I hate being
reminded every time of what happened to me.

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“I’m scared every day that they will come and take me and send me to
my country. I’m scared at the idea of prosecuting those men. I’m scared
for my child.”

Her asylum claim was accepted in July 2013. “That felt good, but it was
just the beginning of other problems,” she says. She no longer has any
support with housing and money from the National Asylum Support
Service. “When you have nothing, how are you supposed to find
somewhere to live?”

Dorcas Erskine says this lack of longer-term support makes victims very
vulnerable. “We have several women who are doing survival prostitution,
or they slowly drift back into exploitative situations. Victims are being
recycled back into the trafficking system.”

Varsha thinks it would be a good idea if there was counselling for victims
of trafficking, something that is not proposed under the bill. “Every day I
was crying, wondering what was going to happen to me, wondering what
I was doing. It has been two years now. I’m learning how to protect
myself a bit. It is just the beginning for me. But I’m still scared. Last
Friday, I heard a woman screaming near my house. I was scared when I
heard her voice. She was being beaten.”
You and your partner must give notice of marriage in your local Register
Office, whether or not you wish to marry in that district. If you and your
partner live in different places, you’ll both have to go to your own local
Register Office to give notice. The Superintendent Registrar then issues
authority for the marriage and you can marry in any Register Office or
local authority approved premises in any district.

In England and Wales, 28 days notice must be given to the Register Office
before the marriage can take place. You have to get married within 12
months of giving notice. Both partners must be resident for seven days in
England or Wales before notice is given. A notice must state where the
marriage is to take place. There is a fee for giving notice.

If one of the partners has been issued with a gender recognition

certificate and was previously the civil partner of the person who they
wish to marry, there is no requirement for the 28 day notice period. In this
case, notice of the marriage and the marriage itself can happen on the
same day.

In the period between the notice of intention to marry and the ceremony,
anyone with strong grounds for objecting to the marriage can do so.
Making a false statement is a criminal offence.

Documents you'll need to give notice

You and your partner will be asked for certain information when giving
notice of your intention to marry. If you or your partner are not citizens of
a European Economic Area country, you'll also have to submit evidence of
your immigration status when you give notice to marry.

Giving false information is a criminal offence. The information which may

be required is:-

 evidence of name and address

 evidence of date of birth
 if one partner has been married before or in a civil partnership,
documentary evidence that the marriage or civil partnership has
ended, for example, a death certificate or decree absolute.
Uncertified photocopies are not accepted. A certified copy of a
decree absolute may be obtained from the court which decided the
divorce. This can take about a week
 evidence of nationality.

A variety of documents can be used as evidence of the information

required, but a passport or travel document is usually sufficient. You can
also use your birth certificate if you were born before 1 January 1983. You
should contact the register office where you're getting married for more
specific advice on what they will accept.
You can check which type of documents you need to bring with you on
GOV.UK.

If you or your partner are from outside the UK

People from overseas may be asked to show their passports. There is no

legal requirement to show a passport before getting married and instead,
they can produce a birth certificate (accompanied by a certified
translation if necessary), an affidavit or other personal identity document.

You’ll need a visa if you’re travelling to the UK to marry an EEA or British

citizen, or someone with settled status in the UK. The type of visa you
need depends on where you and your partner are from and how long you
want to stay in the UK.

If you’re a non-EEA national and you don’t want to live in the UK, you can
apply for a marriage visitor visa. This will let you come to the UK for up to
six months to get married.

If you’re a non-EEA national and you’re planning to live in the UK, you’ll
need either:

 a fiancé or proposed civil partner visa - if you’re marrying a British

citizen or someone with settled status in the UK
 a family permit - if you’re marrying an EEA national

People who wish to marry in the UK in a Register office in England and

Wales must give notice at a Register Office. If you are subject to
immigration control, you can give notice at any Register Office in England
and Wales. Everyone wishing to marry in a Register Office must provide
proof of their nationality.

You won't be subject to immigration control if any of the following apply:

 you're a British citizen (or someone with right of abode in the UK)
 you don't have any conditions attached to your stay in the UK
because you are for example, a diplomat, or a member of visiting
armed forces
 you have indefinite leave to remain or settled status in the UK

You can find more information on coming to the UK to marry on GOV.UK.

If the registrar believes that a person is entering or has entered into a

marriage for immigration purposes, the registrar has a duty to report this
to the Home Office. The registrar must provide the Home Office with
certain information, including the marital status and nationality of the
person. The Home Office may wish to carry out investigations to ensure
that the proposed marriage is not a 'sham'. It may extend the notice
period to 70 days in order to carry out these investigations. If you don't
comply with the investigations you may not be allowed to marry. You also
risk being prosecuted and, if you are the person subject to immigration
control, you will gain no advantage from the marriage and could be
removed from the UK.

As long as the legal requirements described earlier are met, there is

nothing to prevent you from marrying again in a civil ceremony in the UK
if you are widowed or divorced or if you were in a civil partnership that
has been dissolved.

Religions have different rules about whether someone can remarry in a

religious ceremony. If you or your partner has been married before, or has
been in a civil partnership that is now dissolved, and you want a religious
ceremony, you will need to check with an official of the relevant religion

What is a forced marriage?

A forced marriage is where you are pressurised into the marriage against
your will. You may be emotionally blackmailed or physically threatened,
usually by your family. For example, your family might make you feel like
you’re bringing shame on them by not agreeing to the marriage.

It is not the same as an arranged marriage, where both parties have a

choice and agree to the marriage.

It could also be a forced marriage if you don’t have the mental capacity to
agree to it - for example, if you have an illness that stops you being able
to make decisions. It will still be a forced marriage even if you weren’t
pressured into getting married.

In England and Wales, forced marriage is a criminal offence. If someone

forces you into marriage, they could go to prison for up to seven years.

The Forced Marriage Unit

If you're afraid that you or someone else may be forced into marriage in
the UK or overseas, you should contact the Forced Marriage Unit for
advice. In an emergency, you should call the police on 999.

Forced Marriage Unit

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

King Charles Street

London SW1A 2AH

Tel: 020 7008 0151 (Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm)

Out of hours tel: 020 7008 1500 (ask for the Global Response Centre)

Email: fmuoutreach@fco.gov.uk

Website: www.gov.uk/stop-forced-marriage

Forced Marriage Protection Orders

If you are being forced into marriage or are already in a forced marriage,
you can apply to the county court for a Forced Marriage Protection Order
to protect you.

A Forced Marriage Protection Order can stop families from doing certain
things, including:

 forcing you to get married

 taking you abroad for marriage
 taking your passport away
 intimidating or using violence against you
 telling anyone else to do any of these things

It can also require family members to reveal where you are. The police
can also apply for a Forced Marriage Protection Order. If someone breaks
the order, it is a criminal offence and they could be sent to prison for up to
five years in England and Wales.

gration, said many women who arrive in Europe find

themselves with two alternatives to make money: cleaning
houses or selling sex.

"Many say they'd rather die than sell sex and many others
say they wouldn't be caught dead cleaning houses," she told
Sky News. "Lots of women try both jobs.

"The point is sex work pays 10 or more times more than

cleaning, allowing women to pay back the debts they have to
intermediaries who helped them travel in what's properly
called people-smuggling."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Published National

Police Chief's Council guidance makes clear that the safety of
those involved in sex work must be prioritised by police forces
above enforcement action.

"We have no plans to change the law around prostitution and

are committed to tackling the harm and exploitation
associated with sex work."

The Home Office said they take a "victim-first" approach

where a victim or witness of a crime is a suspected
immigration offender and that "referrals to Immigration
Enforcement do not automatically lead to removal".
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