Belgian-Moroccan Couple Battles Immigration Hurdles for Marriage Approval

Kimberly and Khalil started their relationship in 2017. "Khalil told me right from the start that he was staying illegally in the country. We wanted to register as a cohabiting couple, but that wasn’t possible. I proposed to Khalil, but on October 2, 2017, he was arrested and placed in a detention center in Merksplas... We mostly cried, it all happened so suddenly," Kimberly tells Het Nieuwsblad.

The Belgian woman hired a lawyer to help Khalil. In vain. "An asylum application proved impossible. On December 21, 2017, Khalil had to return to Morocco. I go to see him regularly, but it’s obviously not easy. In reality, we are desperate because his file is not progressing. In the meantime, we got engaged in Morocco and want to get married there, but the local authorities are sending us back to the Belgian authorities. The latter claim that the marriage is solely aimed at regularizing Khalil’s situation to allow him to settle in Belgium, so a marriage of convenience," Kimberly says.

And she adds: "The fact that I am older than him and that he does not speak Dutch is also mentioned. But that’s not true. He speaks Dutch and French very well... Khalil is a kind and gentle man. What more do we have to do to prove our love? My family and Khalil’s family support us and don’t understand why we can’t be together." Kimberly and Khalil’s story is an example of the difficulty in applying immigration laws in Belgium. The couple is in love, but faces administrative obstacles and suspicions of a marriage of convenience.