A friend of mine wishes to defect to Holland from the U.S. He is quite serious and he has designs upon marrying a willing individual for this purpose. Does anyone know how he would go about doing this? I this a realistic goal?
It is not legal to marry a US citizen for the specific purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit.
Edit: Duh! A cite would be helpful. Relevant law, 8 CFR 216. From the USCIS Adjuducators Field Manual
Is this true under Netherlands law? And if so, is it specific to US citizens? That is, could a Canadian or an Australian marry a Dutch citizen with the purpose of migrating to the Netherlands?
Defect? This isn’t the 60s. Holland isn’t East Germany. Why can’t your friend apply for legal immigration?
The INS, BTW, makes couples go through years of surprise inspections and other checks to ensure that the marriages are legitimate and the penalties for fraud are severe.
IANAL, nor do I know anything about immigration law in the Netherlands. Most western nations do take a dim view of phoney marriages entered into only to get someone residency or citizenship.
In the US, however, it is the case that a foreigner commits a crime if he or she marries a citizen in a type of “marriage of convenience” - that is, if the sole reason for the marriage is procure an immigration benefit for the non-citizen to which he or she would not otherwise be entitled.
However, US law is irrelevant here. Only laws of the Netherlands and of the EU would apply, and I would not assume that details of the law are the same as in the US.