Is USCIS Watching for Fraudulent Marriages?

While marriage-based immigration cases are one of the most commonly filed in the USCIS, that’s not to say that it’s easy to get approved and receive a green card. Immigration has very stringent rules when it comes to these cases and closely watches out for signs of fraudulent marriages.

Marriage Fraud Happens

Marriage fraud happens way too often in immigration. It’s unfortunate, but there is a number of foreign nationals that make arrangements with U.S. citizens to fabricate a relationship and get married only to acquire U.S. citizenship.

Because of this, immigration is watching for marriage fraud very closely and is rather strict when it comes to approving marriage-based petitions. Immigration attorneys are also very careful when accepting marriage-based cases because they have a duty of candor towards the tribunal. In other words, immigration lawyers are not permitted to tell lies to the immigration service.

Along with this duty to the immigration service, lawyers also have a duty to their clients. That is, to help them achieve their goals. A fraudulent immigration case does not bring them closer to their goals and instead may get them in big trouble. Most lawyers make it a point to never file fraudulent marriage cases.

Preparation is Key to Proving a Legitimate Marriage

As a rough estimate, an immigration officer sees 30-40 marriage-based cases in a span of three days. And most of them are deemed to be fraudulent. Only one of these 40 cases is seen as real and genuine and ends up getting approved.

That’s a big number of cases getting flagged as fake, even if they are not, which shows how particular and strict immigration is when it comes to marriage-based petitions. With all of this, the bottom line is that it’s important to take the preparation of marriage-based cases seriously.

From the beginning of the case when the forms are being filed to further down the line when the couple is called in for an interview, the applicants must be prepared with the pertinent documents and know how they are going to answer the immigration officer’s questions.

In immigration cases, preparation is what distinguishes a successful case from an unsuccessful one. As long as the couple takes their preparation seriously, has all their documents, and is prepared to answer all the tough questions, they can prove the legitimacy of their marriage and come out of the petition successfully.