Proforma marriage
Supreme Court judgment 1 July 2021, HR-2021-1435-A, (case no. 19-163380SIV-HRET), civil case, appeal against judgment.
A (Counsel Javeed Hussain Shah) v. The State represented by the Immigration Appeals Board (The Office of the Attorney General represented by Marius Stub)
Justices: Matheson, Noer, Bergsjø, Arntzen og Thyness
An Afghan national who had been granted residence in Romania and married a Romanian woman there, came to Norway with his wife and applied for a residence permit. The application was rejected by the immigration authorities with reference to section 120 subsection 6 of the Immigration Act. The Supreme Court, having limited the hearing to the application of this provision, and having received an advisory opinion from the EFTA Court, found like the previous instances that the rejection was valid. The Court stated that it is a proforma marriage if obtaining a residence permit is the primary purpose of the marriage, although there have also been other, more subordinate, motives for it be sufficient that one of the spouses – typically the applicant – entered the marriage mainly to obtain a residence permit, and for subsequent events to be relevant to the extent they shed light on the purpose of the marriage. Proforma marriages are not in themselves protected by Article 8 of the ECHR. These issues had been correctly considered by the Court of Appeal. The appeal against the Court of Appeal's judgment was dismissed.