How Foreigners Get American Citizenship Through Bogus Marriages

Marriage with an American citizen is one of the largest categories in which immigrants receive a residence permit in the United States, according to the federal government. At the same time, there are repeated statements that the federal government is not well enough to investigate bogus marriages, writes Click2Houston.

“He was romantic and charming,” says Elena Maria Lopez about a man from the Netherlands whom she married. “I met him through a friend when I was finishing college, and I fell in love.”

Marriage Lopez ended in divorce, but according to her, it was more than just a bad relationship. Lopez said that she was the victim of a so-called one-sided fake marriage.

“This is not crime without sacrifice, and it’s not just a marriage that ends in divorce,” says Lopez. “I made important life decisions based on the fact that it was a real marriage.”

According to the definition of the Customs and Immigration Service, it is one of the types of fake marriages, when “a citizen of another state is deceiving a US citizen who considers marriage to be legitimate”.

A similar story happened with Zinni Hernandez.

“He was just charming,” she says. “I thought he was a good guy, but I was wrong.”

Hernandez married an Israeli who, she said, changed almost immediately after marriage. He began to disappear for several hours every time after the end of the work shift and never wanted to be photographed with her during rare family excursions.

“He didn’t want to do anything together,” says Hernandez. “He didn’t seem to want to show that he was married.”

One of the biggest reasons for contention, according to Hernandez, was that her husband refused to promise to bring her after a modest ceremony to his homeland to play a full-fledged wedding with his relatives.

Already, the woman believes that she should have paid attention to the depth of the problem earlier, when her husband did not allow her to communicate with his relatives, when he spoke with them Skype or Whatsapp.

Hernandez said that after the collapse of the marriage, she felt threatened, so she left Texas and asked not to disclose information about her current place of residence.

Фото: Depositphotos

Similarly, the promise was not fulfilled by the ex-husband Lopez - after a brief ceremony in the United States, a full-fledged wedding was held in the Netherlands. Looking back, she says that now she understands - it was a sign of misfortune that was deeper than a problematic marriage. “He had excuses for everyone,” says Lopez.

Bate Levine shared her experience. She married a man from Ireland. “I believed that I would live with this man for the rest of my life,” says the woman. According to Levin, the flirting phase in their relationship was excellent, but as soon as the couple got married, problems began.

“There was always something wrong with him,” she says.

Levin says that he offered to undergo counseling for couples, but in the end her husband asked for a divorce through the courts. “He said:“ I just want to sort it out in order to find the way back to you and our life together, ”says the woman.

The journalists managed to contact her ex-husband Levin.

“It was not a scam. I thought she was the same, but it turned out to be wrong, the man says. - I just fell out of love. I did not commit a crime. ”

All these stories are similar to each other in that marriage problems began almost immediately after the wedding ceremony, and the marriage itself ended at about the time when the second half received legal status as an immigrant in the United States.

“It turns out that I was just a tool for achieving the goal,” admits another man on condition of anonymity.

According to him, he met a woman from the United Arab Emirates. They decided to get married when they learned that his now ex-wife was expecting a child. The man hesitated at first, but agreed to the marriage when the woman told him that she would have to return to her homeland at the time when their child was to be born. “If I leave, you will not be able to see your child,” the man recalled the words of his ex-wife.

According to him, the problems began as soon as they got married. The girl initially did not want to move to his house, and after her move, the couple constantly swore.

“She created quarrels out of the blue. Really - on complete nonsense, ”says the man.

According to him, the former wife constantly called the sheriff’s office and claimed that he had threatened her. But in one of the reports of the sheriff’s office, the deputy wrote that the man’s wife once said that her husband “was only a sponsor so that she could receive papers on citizenship.” The same report stated that there were "no signs or accusations of violence."

When the man finally initiated the divorce proceedings, he learned that his wife had applied for protection under the Law on Combating Violence against Women. According to him, the former wife claimed that he used violence against her. This same law allows an immigrant to receive a green card without a financial sponsor - an American citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

Despite the accusations of violence, the judge who ruled for the divorce indicated in the text of this document that there was no credible evidence that the husband had committed domestic violence.

“I thought,“ Dude, what a fool you were, ”the man says. “I was just a tool to achieve a goal.”

According to him, when he learned that his wife had filed for protection under the Law on Combating Violence against Women, he realized that it was not just a bad marriage.

“This is a fraud because she didn’t plan to be my wife,” says the man.

Фото: Depositphotos

Suspecting a one-sided fake marriage is one thing. But to achieve that they began to investigate him is completely different. All four characters in this story say they filed complaints with the US Customs and Immigration Service.

“I tried to arrange a meeting, but nothing happened,” Levin says. “I sent them a package of documents, nothing either.”

According to the woman, despite the fact that she filed complaints against her ex-husband to the Service, she was not told whether she would ever be investigated. Three other publication heroes said they were still awaiting a response if any of their complaints would come out.

Despite difficulties in investigating cases of fake marriages, lawmakers began to pay attention to them. In March, Senator Chas Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and the head of the Senate Judicial Committee held a hearing at which this and other types of fictitious marriages were dismantled. Senate leaders believe that all types of fake marriages are a threat to national security.

“Marriage remains one of the fastest ways to citizenship,” Grassley said at the hearing. “The worst thing is that foreigners are deceiving Americans by creating the impression that they are in love.”

After hearings in the committee, officials from the US Customs and Immigration Control Service conducted interviews with all immigrants who apply for a change in the “visa of the bride” for permanent resident status. The state service also said that they are looking for new ways to identify those who are trying to marry American citizens just for the sake of a green card.

According to the US Customs and Immigration Service, about a quarter of the people who received a residence permit in the last 3 of the year did this by marrying American citizens. On average, more than 30 000 people per year for the last 3 of the year have arrived in the US on the so-called “bride visa”. After marriage, an immigrant may apply for a conditional permanent resident status in the United States. After 2, after marriage, a person can already receive a permanent green card.

However, to the question of how many cases of a unilateral fake marriage, the Service considers a year, the answer was one: “Such investigations are rare”.

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