The government says it has also noticed a growing trend of asylum seekers who withdraw their asylum applications after getting married.
“In case their residence permit has expired they are advised by either the masterminds or the intermediaries to submit an application for asylum in order to extend their residence in Cyprus and get the chance to perform the ‘marriage’,” the interior ministry said.
Few end up staying in Cyprus, preferring to travel onwards to Britain, Germany or Italy on the basis of papers obtained via marriage, Romanian police told BIRN.
While in the July case the women were paid between 700 and 1,000 euros, the cost to the groom can run to between 3,000 and 6,000 euros, split between the ‘masterminds’ and the ‘intermediaries’.
Long commitment
According to Cypriot authorities, most of the fake brides are from Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007 but where poverty, particularly in rural areas, remains a problem.
“They are usually deceived by being offered a well-paid job in Cyprus and perfect working conditions,” the interior ministry said, though it is not uncommon that some of the women know the true nature of the trip.
The ministry said that in cases where women are deceived they are treated as victims of human trafficking.
Romanian police Commissioner Jenel Sogor said Romanian women were recruited by “international criminal networks” which, he said, exploit countries where such marriages “are not subject to adequate assessment and control, as is the case in Cyprus.”
The women are registered as Cypriot authorities as being employed and, often, enter into forged rental agreements with their fake grooms as proof they live together. The women are forced to hand over their personal documents, as insurance they will not flee.
But their mission does not end with the marriage ceremony.
The marriage certificate is often used to apply for residence papers for relatives of the groom, while the newlyweds inform authorities of their intention to leave Cyprus for residence in another EU state. Only when this is secured are the brides able to return to their own lives. Even then, “they are usually obliged to be available at any time, even to travel to Cyprus, for police checks” on the authenticity of their marriage, the ministry said.
Cypriot media reports say the country has faced complaints from fellow EU members Romania, Portugal and Latvia – where many of the fake brides are recruited – for not doing enough to crack down on the scam.
Cyprus has since adopted stricter standards to demonstrate the authenticity of a marriage and harsher penalties for those found guilty of gaming the system.
