The article presents issues related to a marriage contracted in order to circumvent the residence regulations. It focuses on the allocation of the burden of proof in administrative proceedings examining if a marriage took place to circumvent the law. When analysing the above-mentioned issues, both views expressed in legal scholarship and case law of Polish courts are taken into account. The article also presents the argumentation in favour of changing the law concerning the annulment of a marriage if it is found to have been contracted in contravention of the existing legislation. The last part of the article is devoted to conclusions about the desired legislative amendments that can be made in order to better detect marriages of convenience.