UK Border Agency places marriage ban on Olympic visit visa

It is estimated that 20,000 people will be granted a UK visa for the upcoming Olympic Games, which will allow them into the country for a maximum period of six months. The UK Border Agency has confirmed that one of the conditions of the Olympic visit visas granted to visiting athletes, coaches and other officials for London's Olympics Games will be to bar them from forming any civil partnerships or from marrying while in the UK as well as from undertaking a course of study in the UK.

This change has been implemented after two 16-year-old Cameroonian athletes absconded from Manchester airport during the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011. Similarly, at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, almost all 30 members of the Sierra Leone team disappeared.

204 nations will compete in the Olympic Games in July and place additional pressure on the already strained UK visa system. In an attempt to minimise visa abuse, the UK Border Agency has made sure that all 204 Olympic Committees of the visiting nations have been briefed and asked to inform their athletes of these marriage and study restrictions.

Athletes will be required to prove they will not stay in the UK for longer than six months and will not enter into any form of employment. They will also have to prove they have enough money to support themselves while in the country and to fund their journeys home.

All athletes will have their fingerprints and faces recorded by UK immigration authorities upon arrival in the UK. The UK Border Agency has warned that any athletes arriving with criminal convictions could be prevented from entering the country. Furthermore, they have stated that anyone on the UN and European Union travel ban list will automatically be refused entry to the UK.