toma1

Another article on this topic:
"The researchers studied interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship. Five years later, they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted. They found that if the wife was five or more years older than her husband, they were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age. If the age gap is reversed, and the man is older than the woman, the odds of marital bliss are higher."
The work is published in the European Journal of Operational Research.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8325579.stm

Another article on this topic:
"The researchers studied interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship. Five years later, they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted. They found that if the wife was five or more years older than her husband, they were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age. If the age gap is reversed, and the man is older than the woman, the odds of marital bliss are higher."
The work is published in the European Journal of Operational Research.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8325579.stm

A friend of mine is in the US on a 10-year tourist visa. She comes in to visit her boyfriend fairly often. They both have money and she is not working illegally. She has always left within the time she was given, which was usually 6 months.
The last time she entered (after a visa run to Mexico), she was briefly detained at immigration and was told that she was using the visa too often and that they were going to stamp her in for 30 days and then she should go home and not come back for a while. They were friendly, not threatening about this, but it scared her a bit.
In the meantime, they have decided to marry. She has completed the paperwork for a K1 visa and she asked me if it is OK if her fiancee sends it while she is still in the US. (There is a question on the 129F about whether your fiancee is currently in the USA, which--if yes-- then asks for the visa type and number.) She wonders if her fiancee should wait until she leaves so that he can say no and leave this section blank. I told her that since she has always been well within the bounds of legality, that little incident at the airport should not have any effect on the K1 process--I think her fiancee should just fill in the data the form asks for and send it off. But I also told her that I would check here as well.
Should her fiancee go ahead and answer yes send it to USCIS now, or should he wait until she is back home so that he can answer no? Obviously they would prefer to send it ASAP.

I'm thinking it's time to let this guy go down this road to prove it to himself... there are no more questions to be answered here.

I predict zero problems at the interview for Ice.

Um.. that's twice. Not extraordinary by any means.

I don't think that USCIS doesn't accept them. I do think they look at where the beneficiary is coming from and the fraud statistics from that area of the world--and again, this is their job. I suspect that a "cougar relationship" coming from Canada or Italy is not going to raise as many flags as one from, say, Pakistan.

It is not age discrimination if the DHS notices a history of problems in one type of relationship and not the other. If there are more problems with one type of relationship in a certain jurisdiction, it is going to be scrutinized more carefully and as Pushbrk said in this thread at the beginning--that IS their job. Sure, there is some research that shows that age gaps in relationships are not a higher risk factor for divorce, but the vast majority of the subjects in these studies are both from the same culture.

There are laws which make eating ice cream on Sunday illegal, that doesn't mean that they can actually be enforced.

Don't know if you guys saw this article from The Nation or not, but... WOW. You would think they would at least tie it to the woman's age.
Law prohibiting marriage to foreigners over the age of 50 proposed to Thai Cabinet
BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Interior are bringing a new proposal before the Cabinet prohibiting foreigners over the age of 50 from marrying Thai nationals.
According to a Ministry spokesperson, statistics show that many older foreigners are marrying much younger Thai women, which is not appropriate and often leads to many problems.
"Many older foreigners seem to marry Thai women so they can stay in Thailand under less strict requirements. Instead of needing to meet the requirements of 800,000 baht in the bank they only have to show 400,000 baht a year when married to a Thai. Additionally, many of these people seem to come to Thailand simply to marry much younger girls. In many cases they are old enough to be their father. I am concerned that these people are attempting to circumvent the rules by marrying innocent Thai women. If these people don't have enough money to retire then they shouldn't be here and become a burden to Thailand," Tawatchai Suksoom of the Ministry of Interior stated.
He added that the measure is not discriminatory as it will apply to both men and women, but admitted that the proposal would mainly affect Thai women and foreign men.
Thai nationals cannot be prohibited from marrying older foreigners abroad, however Thai embassies will warn them of the possibility that Thailand will not recognize the marriage if they return to Thailand, he noted.
It is expected that the new law will be brought before the Cabinet for approval at the beginning of next month where it will then be proposed to Parliament. The law will not apply retroactively but only to marriages that take place after the new law comes into effect. Tawatchai advised Thais living overseas to provide proof to their Embassies that they were married before the law came into effect so as to avoid any potential problems.
The new law is in line with similar laws in Cambodia and Laos as part of the upcoming ASEAN integration in 2015 and is expected to pass Parliament with ease and should take effect on May 1st, 2011.