“Damn these foreigners! How can anyone give such names - no normal person can pronounce them!” 27-year-old Petra K. thought indignantly. However, in response to the question of what her husband’s name actually was, she remained silent. The question came from a judge hearing a case on suspicion of a sham marriage entered into by her with an owner of an exotic name from the former Yugoslavia. But it turned out that poor Petra could not remember not only the name of her newly-made spouse, but also what he looked like, since she had seen him only once in her life, at the marriage registration.
It should be noted that Petra is not alone. But not in the sense that the runaway husband was caught and brought back into the family. As they believe in the police and the Berlin Office for Foreigners, in 2002 alone several hundred sham marriages were concluded, as a result of which... no, not offspring, but 353 criminal cases emerged, 63 of them against those who acted as matchmakers.
The reason that drives numerous couples to the virtual altar is as simple as the mooing of the purple cow Milka, the cheerful heroine of TV commercials. A person just wants to stay in Germany, get social benefits and other blessings that, in the mind of a seeker of a happy life, pour out like from a cornucopia on the heads of the local population. What is wrong with that? And the simplest way to get access to all this splendor is the marriage bond, which does not so much bind as give the right to live to one’s heart’s content.
However, the German authorities have a different and quite harsh view of such things, so instead of rejoicing for the lucky person, they begin to breathe heavily and count the material damage, which is expressed in very solid figures, made up of all sorts of benefits. And now almost all marriages, one party of which is foreign, seem to them a kind of cunning scam that must be prevented. Hence all these bureaucratic red tape at registry offices and idiotic questions with which they baffle people wishing to start a family.
The police sometimes are also not averse to getting to know the newlyweds better. Head of the department for combating crimes related to illegal migration, Heike Rudat, believes that mediation in sham marriages is now one of the most profitable businesses, given the ratio of income to the chance of failure. After all, they fleece up to 10,000 euros from a foreigner who wants to settle in Germany in circumvention of the law, and a considerable part of that ends up with the intermediary. But the justice system calmly looks at such acts, considering them a trifle. Although for a sham marriage one can get up to three years in prison, not to mention a large fine. And then, as they say, everyone gets their due - both the visiting groom, and the local bride, and the well-meaning matchmaker as well.
Although mentioning the native places of those involved in crime is now considered bad form, I will nevertheless note that in terms of sham marriages, the lead belongs not to the notorious “Russian mafia” but to “persons of Turkish nationality,” whom natives of the former Yugoslavia are futilely trying to catch up with. Moreover, having concluded a marriage with a German female citizen, the husband usually does not refuse to fulfill his duties to his previous family. And after celebrating a divorce, together with his first wife and a couple of newborn babies, the happy father, already having the right to stay in the country, again goes to the German authorities. And what kind of person must one be to refuse these nice people family reunification!
Well, if there is a snag with a sham marriage - no big deal, there is another way to settle in Germany. It turns out that children are not only the flowers of life, but also something more useful. The main thing is to find a local resident who, for a certain fee, will call himself the father of the child. Then a family subject to deportation can not worry - everything will go like clockwork. After all, if the child stays, then his mother does too, and together with her all the first-degree relatives. Besides, fictitious fatherhood cannot be faulted. There is no such law. This was recently lamented by Brandenburg’s Minister of the Interior Jörg Schönbohm, who stated that the criminal world uses any loopholes in legislation, and advised sealing them more tightly.