Bajan tells of marriage scam
by Maria Bradshaw
A BARBADIAN woman believes she was tricked into marrying a Guyanese national 13 years ago so that he could receive resident status here. Now she wants to know if divorce papers which were served on her from Guyana are valid. The woman has practically given up the fight at getting justice after several visits and complaints to the Immigration Department have left her frustrated and exhausted. Speaking to the Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity, the 46-year-old mother of three recalled how she fell in love with this Guyanese man back in 1986 after meeting him on the plantation where they worked. He courted her, proposed to her and they got married later that year. However, after one year he left her following a disagreement. Years later, he went back to Guyana and returned with divorce papers and a new woman on his arms. Today, she and her children live in a small house in front of her former husband who resides in an attractive three-bedroom bungalow. She recalled that she met her former lover in 1986 at a time when there were several Guyanese working on the plantation, including the man who introduced them, and who has been the brainchild behind several arranged marriages between Guyanese and Barbadians. “I knew that marriages were being planned, but I didn’t think that mine was that way although people warned me. I told him outright that I was getting married because I cared about him,” she sadly recalled. Looking back now, she realises that he always had his woman in Guyana. One year into their marriage, she sensed a change in his attitude and that was when everything started to go down hill. According to the woman, she first found out he was having an affair with the baby-sitter she had employed. After she confronted him he moved out of the house. She explained that he still used to visit her, but after he received his permanent residency, trouble broke out and he started spending his time between Barbados and Guyana. “He then asked me for a divorce, but I told him no. He carried me to the bone with that.” However, to her surprise, in 1996 she was served with divorce papers originating from Guyana, while he proceeded to bring his new wife, child and brother to live here. The woman said she immediately sought the services of a lawyer because as far as she was concerned, she was still married. “I don’t know if these papers are real or not,” she stated. After running out of funds to retain the services of her attorney, who by then was also working for her former husband in regularising his status, she turned to the Immigration Department for assistance, but again to no avail. “I have been going to the Immigration Department for a long time, but it did nothing to help me. There is always a hitch.” 
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