By TONY WALL
The young woman did not believe in marriage, but changed her mind when she heard she could make $20,000 by tying the knot with an Indian man.
She was working as a prostitute at a Manukau City massage parlour and needed the money for her new baby. Twenty
thousand dollars was like a lottery win.
She now regrets going through with the sham, and says she has received only half the money she was promised by the organiser, Otara woman Samshad Beggum, known as Sam or "the wedding planner".
"I saw the first lot of money and went 'yeah' - but I didn't realise what I was getting myself into," the Pakeha woman told the Weekend Herald.
"I think Sam was saying I would get $20,000 to bait me, to get me in - she knew I couldn't go to the police or immigration."
The Herald has also spoken to her groom, a well-spoken young man from the Punjab who is in New Zealand on a student visa and saw the marriage as a quick and easy way to get residency.
His parents in India loaned him the $8000 Sam asked him to pay, not knowing why he wanted the money.
He is also unhappy, as he does not yet have his residency. He faces another interview with the Immigration Service and deportation if he is found out.
He said several of his friends had gone through with the marriages, and one Sri Lankan man had gained residency within four months.
The man said many Indian men were desperate to get New Zealand residency.
"You have to remember it's not about the money. These guys come here with a dream of residency."
The Weekend Herald has agreed not to name the couple. They were introduced by Ms Beggum, who claimed she had organised "hundreds" of other marriages.
Ms Beggum is a large woman with six toes on her left foot - considered a sign of good luck.
Certainly she is lucky on the pokies - she recently won a Toyota MR2 and a fishing trip at Sky City Casino.
She has four children from two marriages and collects a sickness benefit because she has diabetes and a heart problem.
The bride said Ms Beggum - whom she met through a relative acting as a "scout" - had organised marriages for about eight of her friends.
She attended some of their weddings as a guest.
Ms Beggum told her she would receive $20,000 in instalments - $5000 on the day of the wedding, $5000 after an immigration interview, $5000 when her husband gained a work permit and $5000 when he was granted residency.
Ms Beggum asked her to sign a contract agreeing to help her husband-to-be with his residency application and other legal requirements.
About five days after they met, the two were married at the Manukau registry office by a registrar who did not know what was going on.
Relatives and friends - including male friends of the groom who had also paid to be married - were present as witnesses,.
The couple kissed after the service - she now says "yuck" when she sees the photo.
The bride was given $2000 after the ceremony and Ms Beggum put a further $3000 into her bank account later that day.
She says Ms Beggum provided a list of questions the Immigration Service would ask the couple when the groom applied for residency.
They were told to expect questions about which side of the bed they slept on, who bought the wedding rings, what they did on Christmas Day and how they felt about religion.
The woman said that although there was no romance between her and the groom, they hit it off as friends, which made things easier.
Some of her friends had had problems because their grooms spoke limited English.
The couple lived apart but spent time getting to know one another.
They attended other sham wedding receptions at an Indian restaurant. Photographs were taken of them kissing to show later to the Immigration Service.
By the time the immigration interview came up a few months after the marriage, they felt confident they could deceive the authorities.
The woman said Ms Beggum's husband took them to the Immigration Service office in Queen St.
The groom was interviewed for about an hour, then she was questioned alone. She had been "freaking out" about the interview, but it was not as hard as she expected.
At one point, the interviewer jokingly asked "you didn't get paid to get married did you?" and she laughed.
But it was not all plain sailing. They were tripped up on some personal questions, and the interviewer seemed suspicious about the bride's baby, which was not her husband's.
After the interviews, the couple went back to Ms Beggum's home to discuss how they had gone.
Ms Beggum asked her if she knew anyone else who would want to get married.
The woman said she did not hold out much hope of getting the full $20,000, although she had been drip-fed some of the money by Ms Beggum and the groom, who lived in another town.
No one from the Immigration Service had visited the South Auckland address they gave to see if they were living together.
"Unless they are suspicious of you, they don't visit."
But the Immigration Service says the fact that the groom's residency approval has been deferred and he faces another interview suggests his initial interviewer had doubts about whether the marriage was genuine.
The woman said that despite the money, she regretted going through with the marriage.
She was told the whole thing would be sorted out within a year, but it was still hanging over her.
The groom said he was worried that he would not get his residency.
So far he had paid $8000, of which $4000 went straight to Ms Beggum, and he was still making payments.
By TONY WALL
The young woman did not believe in marriage, but changed her mind when she heard she could make $20,000 by tying the knot with an Indian man.
She was working as a prostitute at a Manukau City massage parlour and needed the money for her new baby. Twenty
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