Article by Kotie Geldenhuys
Photos/images courtesy of Unsplash and Freepik
In a world where fairy tale romances often dominate headlines, another kind of union plays out quietly behind closed doors, one rooted not in love, but in strategy. These are sham marriages, legal partnerships formed not for affection or commitment, but for personal gain, often for citizenship.
In a growing global trend, marriages of convenience, often referred to as sham marriages, are emerging as calculated responses to restrictive immigration policies rather than traditional unions grounded in love. These marriages serve transactional purposes, offering a means to gain legal residency, financial stability and access to public services.
As nations tighten controls to limit the integration of non-citizens into domestic labour markets, industries and welfare systems, some migrants and asylum seekers turn to strategic relationships, such as sham marriages, to secure their place in host countries. According to Kavuro (2021), this phenomenon is not isolated to South Africa and has particularly affected European countries since the 1970s.
The unintended consequence of these restrictive immigration frameworks is an increase in marriages between citizens and non-citizens aimed at circumventing legal barriers. These unions provide non-citizens with vital protection from arrest, deportation and expulsion. They also offer a path to community integration and economic participation, including the ability to engage in business, seek employment, or access state welfare support in cases of vulnerability due to poverty, illness, disability or age (Kavuro, 2021).
******************************
[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: August 2025. This article is available for purchase.]