BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING an extensive investigation, the government has announced that more than 1,200 cases of what it describes as "sham marriages" have been uncovered as the marriage verification process continues to yield results.
Providing an update on the investigation, Attorney-General Garth Wilkin reiterated that a "sham marriage industry" was discovered within the Federation, involving " counsel, lawyers, and the ministry at the time".
To address this issue, the government, after taking office in 2022, moved swiftly to terminate the process and implement a marriage verification system with designated case officers.
These officers, operating within the Ministry of National Security, are responsible for verifying the legitimacy of marriages before certificates are issued. Following the discovery of fraudulent marriages, the government also amended legislation to strengthen enforcement.
Under the revised law, the minister has the authority to deny citizenship if there is reason to believe that a marriage was arranged for convenience—such as cases where money was exchanged.
"So that informal process then evolved in July last year into actual regulations which now govern the process of applying to become a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis through marriage," Wilkin explained. "When a person applies, the ministry assigns a marriage verification officer to the case. That marriage verification officer then conducts investigations, interviews, [and] they can show up to your house, see if you have pictures of you, your wife, and a dog to determine whether it's actually a legitimate marriage."
The government has also streamlined the processing time, eliminating the previous informal policy of waiting a specific period before granting citizenship. "It is whenever the marriage verification process is completed, and the marriage verification officers may say, we need more information to be able to confirm that this marriage is legitimate. So we have closed that loophole."
With the new regulations in place, AG Wilkin confirmed that further investigations are now under the jurisdiction of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
