Inside the Green Card Marriage Phenomenon

[leonidas_alexan 44]

I found this particular article very enlightening and offered me a glimpse into the thinking, working and application of law by the consular officers, USCIS etc in approving marriage and fiance visa applications.

Many points mentioned in this article--I was able to trace them back to some of the cases here on VJ. There was this one particular case of an Indian citizen whose American fiancee filed a fiance petition which got turned back in Auckland embassy at the interview stage. A reputed member Catknit felt the fact that the couple met through a "common relative" may have triggered the red flag of a sham marriage arrangement. Unfortunately in the given case this member indeed was genuinely in love with this girl in the USA but it gave an idea into the mindset of the consular officer.

Anyway I found this article pretty informative and thought of sharing this here.

I would be really interested to see the comments of my fellow posters on this article.

http://www.cis.org/marriagefraud

[TBoneTX 43,413]

*** Thread moved from K-1 Process forum to General Immigration Discussion -- topic can apply to more than one visa type. ***

[leonidas_alexan 44]

At the end of the article in the recommendations section--the very first recommendation the article writer made was to completely do away with the K1 visa's. Gulp. Oh boy, I must admit that is quite a radical recommendation to scrap a whole visa category in itself.

Obviously I will have to disagree with that suggestion. I myself had a 10 year B1/B2 visa and visited my fiancee last year and clearly wanted to do the right and the legal thing by getting back to my country of residence and filing a fiance visa petition. I can understand the concern behind the article writer's recommendation but I do not think he was specifically able to prove that K1 visa types were more amenable to fraud than marriage visas. If anything I think in my own personal opinion K1 visa petition is a far more difficult route than the marriage visa.

But overall I felt it was a pretty comprehensive article focusing perhaps mainly on marriage visas.

I would request my fellow posters to respond on any of the points in the article or whether you agree or disagree with any of the recommendations/conclusions given by the article writer.

Cheers.

[thairath 4]

The Center for Immigration Studies is an anti-immigration think tank. Something to keep in mind whilst reading this piece...

[rascalcat 28]

I thought the writer was quite unfair, especially saying that co-sponsors should be scrapped. And if a U.S. fiancee/ spouse does not meet min. income requirement to sponsor his other half then they should be denied. After all the tax contributions the average U.S. citizen makes i think that is totally unfair. My fiancee makes above the required amount. But if he didnt then with this rule we would be screwed, because we have a baby together, who is already a U.S. citizen after i registered his birth at my U.S. embassy in London. We could not get a visa for my fiancee to come to England because they have exactly that rule. I do not have the kind of income they expect in order to sponsor my fiancee, even though our baby is a dual citizen. I am bringing up our baby on my own, so i am unable to work to earn the required amount. So we would both have to live in different countries with a baby! Eventually we will be married. I just think its crazy that a married couple would have to live apart in different countries with a baby. How would that work out for the dual citizen child? not being able to have a mother and a father together would be extreme hardship on the baby and the married couple! Punishing U.S. citizens for being on a low income is unfair. They are taxed on everything just like everyone else, so why shouldnt they have the right to sponsor an immediate family member?! that would surely be a violation of ones rights. This immigration issue is not the cause of a flailing economy. Our government in the UK are using it as an exuse of the economic problems there. However the government created this problem in the first place by selling off our resources. If we still had them, we would have a decent economy with growth. I think the immigration issue as a whole is very bias and is used as a scapegoat by those who have sold the country out!

[hmh33 117]

The Center for Immigration Studies is an anti-immigration think tank. Something to keep in mind whilst reading this piece...

This. CIS has a strong agenda.

[Abell 11]

I thought the writer was quite unfair, especially saying that co-sponsors should be scrapped. And if a U.S. fiancee/ spouse does not meet min. income requirement to sponsor his other half then they should be denied.

I actually agree with his point of view, min requirement is like 15k a year, how exactly you suppose to support a family of two with this amount?

on the other hand his idea of eliminating k1 visa and require petitioner present during consular interview is a little harsh

[rascalcat 28]

I think it depends on your situation also. If my fiancee was here working, then i doubt i would need to be claiming income support for me and our baby. Plus i would be able to start my own internet business up from home that way, and have an international business, This would bring money into the country also. The situation i am in here alone at the moment means the government have to pay out benefits for me to live on.

Most U.S. citizen families are in the same situation too, as many have to struggle on a lot less, as regards to what most people realistically earn a year after tax. Like i said before, its not family immigration that is a problem. The U.S. is just like the U.K. The government sells off the countries resources, instead of managing them responsibly. For a thriving economy you must hold on to your resources. A good example of this, is that not much is made in the U.S. anymore, the same as the U.K. Perhaps if the government had managed things responsibly then they would not have to keep borrowing money, and perhaps the economy would be growing and thriving!

[rascalcat 28]

Also i think if they need to interview the petitioner during the process, this should be done in the U.S.

It makes so sense that a U.S. citizen should have to take time off work, and have the cost of airfares/ transport just to travel abroad for an interview with his countries Citizenship and Immigration department. Have you seen the price of flights lately?! after flying just few times, you could buy a house in the U.S.!

At least, i think they should be able to deal with interviewing a U.S citizen within the U.S.! It makes sense!