Posted on 12/02/2008 4:30:26 PM PST by AuntB
Anything worth having is a thing worth cheating for. — W.C. Fields
After September 11th, the existential question of “Why do they [foreigners] hate us?” was hotly debated in the American media without any real conclusion ever being reached. This Backgrounder seeks to answer the opposite question: “Why do they love us?”
Key Points
* Marriage to an American citizen remains the most common path to U.S. residency and/or citizenship for foreign nationals, with more than 2.3 million foreign nationals gaining lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in this manner between 1998 and 2007.
* More than 25 percent of all green cards issued in 2007 were to the spouses of American citizens. In 2006 and 2007 there were nearly twice as many green cards issued to the spouses of American citizens than were issued for all employment-based immigration categories combined. The number of foreign nationals obtaining green cards based on marriage to an American has more than doubled since 1985, and has quintupled since 1970.
* Despite these statistics, marriage fraud for the purpose of immigration gets very little notice or debate in the public arena and the State Department and Department of Homeland Security have nowhere near the resources needed to combat the problem. Attention to fraud is not just for the integrity of the legal immigration system, but also for security reasons. If small-time con artists and Third-World gold-diggers can obtain green cards with so little resistance, then surely terrorists can do (and have done) the same.
* An overwhelming percentage of all petitions to bring foreign spouses or fiancés to the United States illegally (or to help them adjust visa status if they are already in the United States on non-immigrant visas) are approved — even in cases where the couple may only have met over the Internet, and may not even share a common language.
* Marriage to an American is the clearest pathway to citizenship for an illegal alien. A substantial number of illegal aliens ordered removed (many of whom have criminal records) later resurface as marriage-based green card applicants. Waivers granted to those marrying U.S. citizens can eliminate ineligibilities for green cards, including the 3/10-year bar on entry for those with long periods of illegal presence.
* The decision-making authority for green card applications lies with USCIS officials who rely almost exclusively on documents, records, and photographs, with little opportunity for interviews or investigations. Consular officers reviewing cases overseas do live interviews and can initiate local investigations, but may only approve petitions, not deny them.
Introduction
Are Americans the most beautiful, charming, and seductive people on the planet or are we in demand as marriage partners by those in the developing world in part because marrying a U.S. citizen is the quickest and easiest path toward becoming an American lawful permanent resident (LPR, also called having a “green card”)? Over the last decade, marriage to American citizens, which entitles foreign spouses to “immediate” preference status for an immigrant visa, has been by far the most common path to American residency. Since 1998, more than 2.3 million foreign nationals have obtained green cards through marriage to American citizens. (See Tables 1 and 2.) Nearly a million more have obtained green cards through marriage to LPRs. The foreign spouse of a green card holder is subject to a wait of at least three years, however, making American citizens much more attractive targets.1 Just over a quarter of all green cards issued in 2007 were to spouses of American citizens. In 2006 and 2007 nearly twice as many green cards were issued to spouses of American citizens than for all employment-based immigration categories combined.2 (See Figure 1.) [snip - see charts]
“Despite these statistics, marriage fraud for the purpose of immigration gets very little notice or debate in the public arena and the State Department and Department of Homeland Security have nowhere near the resources needed to combat the problem. Attention to fraud is not just for the integrity of the legal immigration system, but also for security reasons. If small-time con artists and Third-World gold-diggers can obtain green cards with so little resistance, then surely terrorists can do (and have done) the same.”
Correct.
I remember some jamaican tried to pay my coworker 10 thousand to marry her for a year. He turned her down.
Unless you’re married for at least 5 yrs, it won’t stick.
I was actually amazed at how easy it was to get a visa for my Ukrainian wife. It took a little bit of time, about 1.5 years from mailing the initial petition to picking her up in the airport but if you’ve got a marriage license and some photos together, it’ll get approved.
ping
That may be true for illegals, but not for bona-fide green card permanent resident legal immigrants. We have to pick a number and stand in line, and it doesn't matter at all if you're married to a natural-born American citizen.
“That may be true for illegals, but not for bona-fide green card permanent resident legal immigrants. We have to pick a number and stand in line, and it doesn’t matter at all if you’re married to a natural-born American citizen.”
I hear your point of view about half the time, the other half says it’s a snap. I suspect it’s typical government bureaucracy and ineptness. Like any of their programs, many get the paper work shuffle to never never land. Like SS disability. Many get it who should not almost instantly. Others wait years, or die first.
They check on you after 2 years, I never heard anything about 5 years. We have the 2-year anniversary marked off on the calendar so we remember to go back.
ping
Remember, the window is the 90 days just before the 2 year anniversary date. One of our friends was careless and filed two-days late. Yikes!
Service Centers were really backed up for I-751 earlier this year. Hopefully they have thinned out a little bit.
Wonder how many fraudulent mortgages the “lovebirds” will scam and default on, pocketing $hundreds of thousands-—then abscond to Mexico, while we get stuck with the bills.
Just goes to illustrate why we, as a country, are in such dire straits.
Billions of US dollars are transferred out of our economy back to Mexico and the Third World.
The illegal savages with multiple identities eat up millions and millions of US dollars, free health care, schooling, social benefits.
They give nothing back to the US.
Does INS actually follow up to see?
The green card they give you when you get approved is only good for 2 years. They may not follow up on it but if you try to use it for anything official after it's expired on you then it will show up as being illegal again. If you're going to do that then why bother getting it in the first place?
Sometimes, I have a friend who married a Coptic Christian man and they quizzed her quite throughly. She brought in photoalbums, scrapbooks, etc to prove they actually lived together, took vacations together, visited extended family together etc. She said once they had their son, they never really heard much from the INS again.
They are very suspicious of foreign marriages and I don’t think you’d be scot-free after 2 yrs unless you already had children together.
I have no idea, but I know many illegals are here under expired visas, so it would seem that they might also use this avenue to stay in the country.
Then, why would anyone marry someone to stay in the country fraudulently?
When my wife got her green card, it was good for ten years!
Not true. Adjustment of status and removal of conditions on an immigrants green card happens two years after the issue of the original green card.
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