In the past, I have turned to this board for advice which has helped me to convince a misguided friend. Today I request the same.
I have a young friend who was approached this weekend with a lucrative proposition. For $5000.00 she simply has to marry an illegal alien and grant him the citizenship he longs for.
What are the ramifications of this marriage of convenience? I am not interested in the penalties if he is caught, I am simply wondering if my friend is in jeopardy. If this scheme fails, can she pocket the $5000.00 in advance and walk away whistling Dixie?
Once married, he has full access to their marital assets, so if the got the 5000 before marriage, he’s suddenly got it back again.
If they pass the scrutiny from immigration, they have to remain married for (I believe) 2 years before he gets his citizenship. 5000 is a pretty small price to be paid for two years of your life.
During those 2 years, I believe immigration checks on the status of the happily married couple.
When they are all done, she gets to go through a divorce.
Actually, I think it’s 3 years, not 2, if everone’s living in the US. I’d guess that you could get around the spouse having control of the assets with a suitable prenuptial agreement, and possible some fancy footwork with living trusts, depending on the state. This would be pretty convincing evidence to the INS that the marriage was a sham, though
Did anyone mention that it’s illegal?
That is, illegal for the immigrant and the spouse.
You can find out the details at http://www.ins.gov
To be honest, when I described this scheme to a friend at work, she told me that the going rate is around $30,000.00 and that the happy couple must remain together for 6 years.
This is the kind of ignorance that I am attempting to eradicate here. Does anyone have an expert opinion on this topic?
I’m currently looking at the immigration stuff for when Anniz and I get married.
Basically, what your friend is considering is illegal. Very illegal. That, and she’s committing herself to being married to someone she doesn’t love for 5+ years. What if she meets someone she does love and wants to marry in that span? Hmm?
Getting a green card is easy when you’re married. Anniz will have that status pretty much immediately after we apply for it, right after our wedding. It will take up to two years to process, but she’ll have the work permits immediately, on a temporary basis.
After the green card, you have to wait three years to get citizenship. He’ll have to pass a few tests, and do a few other things that those of us born here don’t have to do (swear a few things).
Poke around the immigration law section at PrairieLaw, a good legal reference MB I’ve found in my travels. I’m not an expert, but I’ve learned a lot there, and via the INS web site. Don’t fuck with them is the first thing I’ve learned.
I’m wading through the morass of I-648 right now – the INS form by which you request legal residence for your spouse. As alluded to above by dublos, the INS doesn’t simply take your word that you’re in a bona fide marriage - they check. As Arjuna34 points out, they will look a little closer at couples with prenuptial agreements, separate accounts, and the like. While it’s certainly a couple’s right to have prenups and separate accounts, those are things that flag their interest.
One last thing to add … since it IS illegal, and any contract regarding an illegal act is automatically null and void, your friend COULD simply take the cash from the immigrant promising to get married, and then never marry the sucker. Nothing the guy can do about it.
Hey, if your friend is immoral enough to enter into a sham marriage to defraud the US, then she might be immoral enough to do THIS too.
Plenty the guy could do about it. On the simplest level, since the contract is null and void, the woman has no legal right to keep the money. It’s theft or fraud, depending on the circumstances. Even if the guy can’t go after her right away (for fear of being deported), once he’s back in his own country, he’s safe from prosecution by the INS, and he can report it to the local U.S. Consulate. I have a feeling the INS would go after her, two deter two birds with one stone - people who marry for INS purposes, and people who defraud (relatively) defenseless illegal immigrants.
First of all IBBen, you did not say what country this alien is from. That is very important. Each country around the world has it’s very own specific rules on their citizens becoming part of the US.
Board rules won’t let us tell you how to do illegal things, however, the chance of getting caught is really pretty slim.
I’ve heard they check on the couples but I have also heard from many people that the immigration service is way under staffed.
Understaffed= gonna take a long time to get your papers. Years, sometimes. There are faster methods though, it called getting an immigration lawyer.
If you read the newsgroups, there is one just for this that I used to read alot: alt.immigration.marriage-based I think.
