Indian Spouse married for ILR

[TKS]

Hello, please can I request your help as my sister is in a very unfortunate situation and doesn't know what to do. I will be seeking legal advice from a lawyer once my sister is able to open up about the situation as she is unconsolably crying yet. But I don't want it to be too late by then.

In Feb 2012 my sister (a UK citizen) got married to an Indian in India. She sponsored him to the UK. Their relationship has had ups and downs, we all doubted his genuinity in love for my sister. He argued about her money, he wanted her to send all her savings to his parents in India. Asked her to leave her gold with her mother in law for safe keeping. Doesn't pay anything towards household expenditure, sends all his earnings to his parents etc. We all tried to convince my sister he is not right for her. But blinded in love she stayed with him thinking he is good and we misunderstand him. He spent 6 months in India even in between saying he won't return but they worked things out and he came back. They applied for ILR and he got it somehow last year in September time. Now he secretly applied for a canadian visa on his own, got caught by my sister, started giving her lots of verbal abuse, threatening to leave etc. My sister is a very cultured quiet girl, she doesn't share anything but emotionally suffers herself. Now he said he doesn't want to live with her no more.

Question is how do we go about divorce now. My sister is such a nice person she paid for the house deposit and makes all household payments even when they are in his name some bills, and put the house in both their names. She is ashamed what people will think if he leaves her, but she deserves someone who loves her, not tries to leave her once he has his PR. He says they are not compatible, he realised that now after he received ILR. Her in laws have all her gold, and also my parents spent a lot on the wedding as they wanted a shandar (extravagant) affair and had lots of guests.

I want to know how to revoke this marriage so that he is sent back to india as he only got leave to remain here as her spouse, which seems like a trick now. I heard if my sister files for divorce in india she will instead have to pay out to him. Which is unfair as they do not share a relationship and he has stated that he no longer wants one and is very abusive to her, mistreats her badly. It's not right he gets to live in the UK separate to her without divorce as she cannot move on in life then. If she divorces him in England, she won't get her gold back nor will she be able to claim for all the costs taken in the wedding when it was all a hoax on their part. His parents are in on it too. They keep telling him to leave her now, and always badmouth her to everyone.
Will she also get her house too?

Please help or direct me to a solicitor who would be able to help.

Thank you so much,
A worried helpless sister
TKS

[zeusmagnanimous]

I cannot comment on the matters related to divorce etc. But as far as the visa is concerned once anyone obtains ILR then they become completely independent to the main applicant. It doesn't matter through what route he got ILR. You cannot get his ILR revoked on the basis of break in relationship.

[Wanderer]

I cannot comment on the matters related to divorce etc. But as far as the visa is concerned once anyone obtains ILR then they become completely independent to the main applicant. It doesn't matter through what route he got ILR. You cannot get his ILR revoked on the basis of break in relationship.

+1

This is not an immigration issue.

[secret.simon]

I am sorry to hear about what happened to your sister. It is unfortunate that people enter into a marriage only to take advantage of visa rules and do not take into consideration that this would emotionally wreck somebody's life.

I doubt whether on these forums, we are the best people to advise on the legalities of divorcing somebody. What we can do is advise you on the immigration consequences of a divorce, if it were to come to that.

As your brother-in-law has got ILR, he is no longer dependant on your sister for his status, but is independent of her. Indeed, until the decree absolute takes effect, he can even apply for citizenship as the spouse of a British citizen. I believe that he will need copies of the marriage certificate, your sister's passport and other such documentation to prove your sister's citizenship. But, given your description of how he has managed the situation thus far, I would not be surprised if he had already worked that out and taken steps in that direction.

It does not help that Indian family law is governed by different rules, based on which community they belong to. If they married in India and you know which law they married under (Hindu, Muslim, Indian Christian, Parsi or Special), you may want to research on the relevant law online. If your sister was a British citizen at the time of marriage, I would guess that it is the Special Marriage Act that would apply, but as I said before, we have no knowledge of divorce law, let alone divorce law of a foreign jurisdiction and I could be completely wrong on this point.

EDIT: Overtaken by zeusmagnanimous and Wanderer while replying.

[TKS]

Thank you all, sorry I realise it is not completely immigration law related. But thank you secret.simon for answering whether he could still remain in UK following this. I think it is disgusting what he has done and whole family will be heartbroken if he were to continue residing here.... as he has used her for his own benefit. It is just disgusting. Yeah, she is British born so has always had UK citizenship.