You know, I asked for some factual advice and/or experiences. Some of you are giving me some really unnecessary editorial comments. I am adult, and have seen far more fraudulent marriages in my career than probably anyone except an immigration fraud investigator (or sleazy immigration lawyer who will take a case like that). My friend is an adult, and has judgement better than that of most people. We have both had far more international living experience than the vast majority of non-foreign-born Americans, and we are painfully well aware of the lure of the green card.
And most importantly, she knows the individual in question; the rest of us don’t. So if you are not inclined to help and/or to trust our collective judgement, then I respectfully request that you refrain from commenting in this thread.
I am probably twice your age give or take a few years. If you are not receptive to conservative advice from several posters, just ignore it. Do it your way and good luck. my only regret is that I wasted my time on prioviding the advice such as it was.
Update: just got e-mail from my friend that she and her Turkmen fiancé both managed to leave Turkmenistan safely, and are happily in one piece at her parents’ house and plan to get married this summer. No details yet as to how she managed to pull it off.
I will try to talk to her over the weekend, and they are planning to make a trip here in the next couple of months so we can all meet the fiancé. I’m really looking forward to it! (And I’m also looking forward to hearing all her stories from her Peace Corps stint!)
I think it’s a really really reaaaaaallly good idea to impress upon your friend to go to an immigration lawyer. Since she’s just back from the Peace Corps, she might qualify for a non-profit immigration organization in her area, and not need to go to a full-price attorney. There are so many issues now with family-based immigration, and the consequences can be so severe, that she and her husband must be made aware of all the ins-and-outs before they even approach INS.
Oh, believe me, I have given her every conceivable warning, and I’ve also given her some names of people I’ve known professionally for more than 10 years who handle both family-based immigration and asylum law. She definitely knows what she’s getting into, and I believe she’s been corresponding with at least one of the attorneys I recommended via e-mail. And her parents have offered to help her with legal fees, if necessary. She should be as well-equipped as a person can be at this point.
Eva Luna, Immigration Paralegal and Former Immigration Court Interpreter
Thank Og. I figured you knew this, but it just now occured to me to post this warning to those others who don’t know as much as you and I do and might be thinking of doing the same thing. (Used to work as a Family-Based immigration legal assistant and was on my way to becoming a Certified Advocate - or whatever they used to call them.)
Hope all his documentation was legit. I knew of an asylum candidate who had a legitimate claim, but had to get a false passport just to get out of his country. Of course, INS tried to get his claim denied and the applicant deported based on the fact that his passport was false! (Um, hello??? Some countries who torture and kill their dissidents don’t really want to give them a passport so they can leave.)