The ban was declared illegal by the high court in April 2006 following an appeal by three couples whose marriages were banned. The Law Lords upheld the ruling Wednesday.The Law Lords said the ban was an "arbitrary and unjust interference" with human rights. Commenting, the chief executive of the migrants' rights charity JCWI (Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants), Habib Rahman says: "It's a great day for human rights, for justice and for migrant communities, who were clearly the target of this discriminatory scheme.

"The Government's policy is now in tatters. It was comprehensively trashed in a unanimous ruling by the House of Lords. The Government will have to go back to the drawing board now.

"We want the scheme scrapped altogether. The scheme is unnecessary, costly, slow and bureaucratic. On top of that the authorities have the ability to deal effectively with what they see as 'sham' marriages under the current very strict immigration rules that cover marriage and settlement."

Baroness Hale said: "Denying those benefits to a couple whose relationship is genuine is neither a rational nor a proportionate response to the legitimate aims of a firm and fair immigration policy."

In April, a high court judge had concluded that the restrictions were not rationally connected because they prevented weddings only in non-Anglican religious ceremonies and the government had not proved or even asserted that these ceremonies were being used for bogus weddings.