Risks of marrying for documents

This scenario can come up when, unfortunately, someone has a long period of time without being able to legalize his/her presence as an immigrant and looking for ways to regularize his/her migratory status.

In these cases, the idea of a deal with a US citizen or Legal Resident, either for money or any other good, in exchange for marrying that person might come up.

It can be that such person already has a couple and is about to divorce, and the immigrant thinks that, by pure deal, the person would be willing to marry so she/he can regularize migratory status in order to have a better lifestyle.

There must be caution in these kinds of situations. It’s not just a deal. It can happen that, when having a long time living in the US “in the shadows”, notaries or other people come to make these kinds of offers; however, it must be considered that this, due to implying a fraudulent marriage, would also represent a fraud before Immigration.

This might result in extreme consequences. This kind of situation must be avoided, specifically, the situation in which an immigrant looks to marry without having an actual relationship with his/her so-called couple.

A deal that is aimed to pay a US citizen or a Legal Resident in order to marry him/her and being able to obtain documents, either if it’s a “street deal” coming from someone who knows the immigrant’s situation and makes the offer; or through companies that, supposedly, help immigrants by charging to “help” them marry someone not by love but by a deal; can imply severe consequences.

Consequences of Immigration noting a fraudulent marriage

In the US, Immigration is a smart area of the government. It counts on vast information. If they notice that someone married for documents, or to obtain a migratory benefit, not only will they deny the case, but will also possibly impose a permanent bar on the immigrant.

What happens in these cases in which a person marries on interests or due to Immigration-related issues, given that there is no actual relationship but, exclusively, a deal of money in exchange for marrying in order to request documents, is that, if Immigration notices this, again, could apply a permanent bar.

Something that is frequently seen in consults with attorneys is that someone who was accused of fraud in marriage, will later, finally, find the love of his/her life. Such person, either US citizen or Legal Resident, might want to “do things correctly”, reason for which he/she plans to marry, and fill out an application in order to get documents for his/her future spouse.

What ends up happening is that, when submitting the application under this situation, it must be demonstrated that the first marriage, the one Immigration denied the case for due to fraud, was a real marriage. The problem is that, in a big part of the cases, this can’t be demonstrated, especially when the marriage was, indeed, a deal.

There are people who don’t have any more contact with the person they tried to marry for documents. Due to the non-existent communication, demonstrating that it was real gets even harder.

Is risky to think of marrying as a deal and that Immigration will not notice it.

When a person is regularizing his/her migratory status through marriage with a US citizen or Legal Resident, Immigration will ask for enough proof that demonstrates the marriage is not based on interests.

These proofs can include birth certificates of children in common or bills in common. It can be dangerous to do this if is not a real marriage. Bills in common can include bank accounts, rent bills, electric service bills, phone service bills, or the contract of a house in common, proofs that reliably demonstrate a life together.

Immigration is a government axis that has ways to know the truth. It’s not worth it trying to fool them.

Those immigrants who are in the situation in which they think it will be easy to make these kinds of deals must consider that it can result in diverse complications, sometimes even a permanent bar.

It is recommended, instead of trying to marry for documents, to consult with an immigration attorney to find out about real and safe alternatives to regularize status as an immigrant.