If the dowry of a young Asian person forced into an arranged marriage didn't...

[sandyRoe]

...include a right to reside in the UK and the prospect of a British passport, would there be quite so many of these loveless weddings?

[venator]

Couldn't agree more, but the girl in question was happy with the custom, and trusted her parents.

She had a lot more chance than many of today's young people.

It's a bit irrelevant, anyway, as so few people actually bother getting married.

[sandyRoe]

More might marry if the chance to move to a better life in another country depended on it.

[rowanwitch]

Maybe the whole marry a national get a passport idea should be scrapped and if we have a single route to gaining citizen ship via application, education, examination and an oath of allegiance.... there would be one less incentive to forced marriages,,,(it would also stop the marry for money scams)

[venator]

Spot on Rowanwitch - other countries do that, and it works.

[tamborine]

Without British passport & attending rights, I feel arranged marriages would be devalued

[rowanwitch]

OOOH another bit of common sense god help me I'm becoming a grown up...

[rowanwitch]

are a couple of foreign nationals say italians or australians treated as any less married because they are not british passport holders... of course not... I just think the two should be separate... I don't think it is unreasonable for someone wanting to settle here to undertake a process to become a citizen....Its about separating the issues for clarity

[cathfromsaron]

methinks shame and honour are immeasurable forces anyway ...

[tamborine]

Marriage used to adopt the husbands nationality only as I recall

[tamborine]

I mean only the passport rights of the husband

[tamborine]

michael, family customs are hard to break. Divorce was unacceptable to my parents, their fav comment "you made ur bed etc" was dinned into me when my OH became alcoholic

[Brinjal]

Going back over 30years when I lived in NZ I worked with an Asian girl who had entered into an arranged marriage. She was sent back to India and was introduced to a number of men and was expected to marry one of them. She did get married and all was well for three months then he sent her to the country to stay with his mother while he lived and worked in the city. She was literally a slave to her mother in law. when she complained he beat her black and blue. She managed to pack up her dowry gold and came back to NZ. The husband followed her but she reported him and had him deported.