Immigration problem - Green Card Marriage FRAUD

[Indus]

Oregon First Lady Married Immigrant for Cash

Cylvia Hayes, fiancée of John Kizhaber, took $5,000 in 1997 to marry an Ethiopian teen for a green card, she said Friday—but the news isn’t likely to sink the governor’s reelection.

An alternative newspaper, the Willamette Week, reported Wednesday that Hayes married an Ethiopian immigrant in 1997, when she was 29. It was her third marriage, resulting in a divorce after four years and three months.

Shortly after the report, the governor’s fiancée copped to accepting $5,000 for entering a fraudulent marriage with the 18-year-old immigrant. (For reference, in 2009 alone 227,000 foreign nationals received a green card by means of marriage.)

Why does this issue generally go unnoticed and not talked about?

And unlike a normal 5 years required to naturalize, a marriage green card can naturalize in only 3 years after which they are free to bring family members and marry someone else to start the whole fraud chain all over again.

Just recently in New York, a woman was married to 10 husbands just for green cards.

If there is a place where immigration should really be looked under a microscope, don't you think it should be this?

 

[Fern]

-snip-
If there is a place where immigration should really be looked under a microscope, don't you think it should be this?

They do, or at least the govt used to.

I lived in Miami and Immigration was known to show up at people's homes and investigate to determine if the marriage was real. They looked for 'family photos', clothes in the closet/drawer, toothbrush in bathroom etc. They did whatever they could to make sure the people were living together as husband and wife.

IDK the current practice.

Fern

 

[LevelSea]

We had to send in a bunch of pics, emails, cards, etc with our green card application when my wife got hers. Also had an interview, asked us what the other's birthday was and stuff like that. Our interview took less than 10 minutes, although a tall, eastern european hottie and her fat ugly husband spent several hours in their interview.

 

[flexy]

(For reference, in 2009 alone 227,000 foreign nationals received a green card by means of marriage.)

Why does this issue generally go unnoticed and not talked about?

227,000 in one year.

How many of those are "fake" marriages? 10%? 5%? 1%? 0.1%?

Do the math, then you will know why it is generally unnoticed and not talked about.

 

[nickbits]

My five inch binder of documents from my wife's greencard says they do look at it under as microscope...

 

[flexy]

If there is a place where immigration should really be looked under a microscope

You seem not to know a lot about immigration.

They *do* look at those cases actually. Immigrations do separate interviews of the spouse(s), ask questions etc. to determine (more or less reliably) whether a marriage is actually "legit". There are also follow-up interviews after some time and other shenanigans. So the issue that SOME people marry only for obtaining residency is certainly known to immigrations, they're not that dumb.

Edit: Seriously, to me it seems that some folks think residency is obtained by snapping a finger. We did that stuff back in 2000, MIND YOU this was before 9/11 where things were still relatively lax.

It's a mountain of paperwork, stress, a ton of fees, interviews etc. - it's really a long, tedious process.

 

[flexy]

My five inch binder of documents from my wife's greencard says they do look at it under as microscope...

yup...can confirm.

 

[Theb]

but the news isn’t likely to sink the governor’s reelection.

It didn't. He was reelected and resigned in scandal shortly afterward.

 

[Indus]

It's a mountain of paperwork, stress, a ton of fees, interviews etc. - it's really a long, tedious process.

How was that woman able to file for 10 green cards for 10 different husbands? Shouldn't she have been caught as soon as she applied for the second concurrent application?

Or was she just running a ponzi like green card scheme and marrying but without ever actually filing papers?

 

[cabri]

How was that woman able to file for 10 green cards for 10 different husbands? Shouldn't she have been caught as soon as she applied for the second concurrent application?

Or was she just running a ponzi like green card scheme and marrying but without ever actually filing papers?

ICE apparently does not check background of the petitioner, only the recipient

 

[Londo_Jowo]

My five inch binder of documents from my wife's greencard says they do look at it under as microscope...

Same here. It was much tougher the 2nd time around. We didn't realize staying out the country for more than 6 months results in the loss of immigration status.

 

[justoh]

I obtained a green card through marriage. Cost like a few hundred. Easy peasy. Arduous and costly indeed...

 

[LevelSea]

I obtained a green card through marriage. Cost like a few hundred. Easy peasy. Arduous and costly indeed...

I think I ended up spending a few thousand before it was all said and done. Not to mention the hours pouring over documents and online checking to see if everything is correct.