Skip to main content

If I don't have enough evidence that my marriage to a U.S. Citizen or a Resident is real, can immigration accuse me of marriage fraud?


You SHOULDN'T be accused of committing marriage fraud just for lack of evidence, but that doesn't mean this never happens!

There is a difference between lack of evidence of a real marital relationship (or lack of bona fides) and

 Under immigration law, a foreign national must prove to Immigration Services (USCIS) that his or her marriage to a U.S. Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident is real and is not entered solely for the purpose of obtaining an immigration benefit. Besides the famous marriage interview that couples usually have to undergo, they also have to submit documentary evidence of their relationship (for example, utility bills on both of the spouses' names, joint bank accounts and other joint financial responsibilities, family pictures, children's birth certificates, letters from family and friends attesting to the validity of the couple's marriage, etc.). 

 
Some couples have an honest struggle finding evidence of a bona fide marriage for several reasons:

- They have not been married for very long, so they do not own anything jointly yet;

- They have no children together;

- They have bad credit or are too young to own many assets or have enough financial responsibilities;

- They are on some sort of disability leave and are earning no income;

- The couple does not live in the same city (or even the same country);

- They belong to a culture where arranged marriages are commonplace; etc.

 
These couples will undoubtedly have a harder time proving that their marriage is valid for immigration standards. But the lack of evidence does not in itself means that there exists down fraud in these relationships; however, because each application will be looked at by a different immigration officer, there is always the possibility that that particular officer will think there may be fraud involved--even if this an incorrect assumption. To avoid this, it is crucial to prepare a strong application to be filed with USCIS. There is always different type of evidence that a couple can submit with their application, but it will depend on the specifics of the couple's story and their living arrangements. An attorney can help prepare a strong application that includes evidence tailored to your particular circumstances.

 
Finally, having an attorney present at an immigration interview for a couple who does not have a lot of evidence is always a good precautionary measure that helps your chance of success.

Shirley Zambrano
Immigration Attorney
404-949-8177

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If You Are An Immigrant (even a US Citizen), Here Are 9 Things You Should Know

Are you a Naturalized U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Visa Holder, or an Undocumented Immigrant? We recommend you take the following steps to protect yourself in our current version of America. The last couple of weeks have reminded immigrants, even naturalized U.S. citizens, that they were not born in the United States. Our office has received countless phone calls, emails, and social media messages from people worrying about what their family’s future in the United States holds. Most people want to know what they can do now to protect themselves from what promises to be a wave of anti-immigration activity by the federal government. Trump's Executive Order on Interior Enforcement has some provisions that should make most Americans shiver.  We recommend the following actions for each of the following groups: Naturalized U.S. citizens. In particular if you have a foreign accent, and you are traveling within 100 miles of any US Border (including the oceans

Seven Reasons Why the Georgia Legislature Should Repeal HB-87

Recently the Alabama Attorney General called on the Alabama State Legislature to repeal parts of Alabama's horrid anti-immigration law ( HB 56), because of the "unintended" consequences of the bill (frankly, what happened was not unintended). Because of the similarity between the two laws, Georgia's Speaker of the House, David Ralston was asked whether Georgia Legislature would repeal part or all of HB 87, Georgia own anti-immigration law. HB 87 has caused almost a half a billion dollars in damage to the Georgia economy (along with untold suffering in Georgia's immigrant communities) without any noted or reported positive effect. Speaker Ralston plainly stated that the Georgia Legislature would NOT do anything to repeal HB 87 . While it understandable why a politician would not admit that a pet bill he shepherded and pushed through the state legislature was simply bad law, it is also clear that Speaker Ralston is facing a challenge on his RIGHT in th

How To Stop Illegal Immigration

In the midst of the never ending political season, we hear much rhetoric about immigration, and what candidates will "do" to fix what everyone considers to be a broken (not failed, just broken) immigration system.  Most of the candidates, however, put a condition on fixing this broken system by saying that:  "FIRST, we must secure the border and end illegal immigration, then we will talk."   What will it take to accomplish this precondition to solve a the acknowledged problem. There are two types of "illegal" immigration to the United States.  The first is what everyone already considers to be illegal immigration--those who enter the United States without a visa through our thousands of miles of borders.  Proposals to fix this particular type of illegal immigration range from alligators and moats, to automatic firing machine guns, to “beautiful” walls, to limitless numbers of border patrol agents.  The second type of "illegal" immigratio