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Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk - Family - Nairaland

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Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by lalasticlala(m): 7:34pm On Oct 21, 2014
Despite many socio-cultural problems and even an economic depression few years back, the United States of America remains the ultimate destination for many people from across the world, especially developing countries. Seen as the land of opportunity and freedom, immigrants employ several means to get permanent residence status, one of which is marrying for the green card. But in the end is it a good idea committing marriage fraud for a green card?


GREEN CARD

In the US, the green card is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien or a person who is not an original citizen of the country. Formerly known as the Alien Registration Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card, the document is informally referred to as the green card because it had been green in color from 1946 until 1964 and since May 2010, has reverted to that color. Thus obtaining a green card refers to the process of becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident or LPR in the US. Once a person has acquired a green card, it means he/she has been officially granted immigration benefits which include permission to reside and undertake employment in the USA. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS has the authority to grant green cards to applicants. However even after obtaining one, the holder must maintain permanent resident status and can be removed from the United States if certain conditions of this status are not met.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The green card wedding racket works by arranging a wedding between a regular US citizen and an alien who has come to US from a foreign country and is either staying on a temporary visa or is an illegal immigrant. The US citizen usually agrees to the wedding in return for a fat fee while the agents, touts and other middlemen get their own cut in the monetary transaction. The entire financial burden in this marriage fraud is borne by the alien who wants a green card at any cost. Once someone is legally wedded to a US citizen, he/she begins the wait for the coveted green card. The American citizen or LPR filesan I-130 petition form with USCIS if they live in the United States or, if they live abroad, at an American embassy or consulate1. Approval of the petition signifies that a consular officer or USCIS adjudicator has verified that a valid, qualifying relationship exists between an American petitioner and foreign applicant. Among the documents that the couple are required to produce while applying for the green card are typically the petition itself, marriage and birth certificates, passports, and supporting documents and photos meant to prove the validity of the relationship. Typically, couples must remain legally married for two years before the conditional status on the immigrant spouse’s green card is removed. At the interview which decides whether the conditional status should be removed, the couple is supposed to produce documentary evidence that they still live together like joint tax returns and bank accounts. Once the immigrant’s conditional status has been removed - usually after two years – the couple is free to divorce with no repercussions. And three years after removing the conditional status on the green card, the immigrant is eligible for American citizenship and after that can petition to bring his/her relatives to the United States. In this way an immigrant who had no way of becoming an American citizen on the basis of his/her professional skills or other legal grounds, is able to acquire the green card or permanent residency status.


MARRIAGE FRAUD


The primary reason which makes marrying someone for a green card a bad idea is that it entails marriage fraud. This is a federal crime and the punishment of trying to cheat immigration officials can be severe. An alien accused by authorities of marriage fraud can be deported and barred from ever obtaining a green card. And a US citizen who knowingly marries to evade immigration laws can face five years in jail2. Indeed in recent years, United States has come down hard on fraudulent marriages which promise green card in return for money. In the fall of 2005 a group of 30 conspirators was busted by immigration officials near Miami for arranging or participating in a long-running marriage-for-money scheme. The arrests were the culmination of a two-year probe, dubbed Operation Honeymooners that immigration officers say involved more than 100 fraudulent marriages. More recently the federal government agents have cracked fake marriage scams in South Florida, Chicago, Des Moines and Seattle where ring leaders were believed to have paid U.S. citizens to marry aliens so that the aliens could earn permanent residency. Despite the romanticized implications of marriage for green card as depicted in Hollywood movies like the Green Card and The Proposal, federal officials take marriage frauds very seriously. For them it is much more than a cat and mouse chase – it is a matter of national security and the offenders are likely to be punished accordingly when convicted.

Apart from the very real legal dangers of marrying for green card, it is hardly a good idea even if one is able to get past immigration officials. This is because any relationship which is based on fraud and lies is bound to flounder in the end. And even if the spouses of such a fraudulent marriage have no intention of living with each other, still the uncertainty and the anxiety during the three year waiting period can cause both to feel really uncomfortable and miserable. It can definitely harm the quality of their lives – after all how can you be happy if you are constantly looking over your shoulder in anticipation of the law coming knocking on your doorstep? For the immigrant especially, living under the shadow of deceit and crime is no way to start a new life in the land of promise.


Source: http://www.futurescopes.com/getting-married/8196/reasons-why-marrying-someone-green-card-bad-idea-fraught-risk

9 Likes 1 Share

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by hugelyendowed: 7:48pm On Oct 21, 2014
I don't care, if marrying a white woman old, granny or young, would earn me a green card, why not? I would gladly accept d offer abeg.

27 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 7:51pm On Oct 21, 2014
hugelyendowed:
I don't care, if marrying a white woman old, granny or young, would earn me a green card, why not? I would gladly accept d offer abeg.


cheesy Boys are not smiling.

51 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Zehner(f): 7:54pm On Oct 21, 2014
OMG! These pictures cracked me up tho! cheesy cheesy cheesy

10 Likes 1 Share

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by hugelyendowed: 8:02pm On Oct 21, 2014
old woman: I love u Bby. u r all I have got

young man: I love u, but d green card more

old woman: excuse me! What did u just say?

Young man: ermmm! ermmm!! I mean I love u more, not bcs of d green card. Even without d green card, I could still have married u over & over again. u may b 80, but u r like a sweet 16 in my eyes.

old woman: oh sweety, that's y I love u

3 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by daveP(m): 8:04pm On Oct 21, 2014
Lalasticlala ona pu nwang simple warning grin grin grin








@topic it is pitiable some guys still wont see any common sense that this isnt the best way to make it. Ignoramuses desperados

2 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by sam4(m): 8:14pm On Oct 21, 2014
Hmmmmmmm
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by itstpia1: 8:26pm On Oct 21, 2014
That girl in the last picture, I dey suspect am o.

4 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by lalasticlala(m): 8:29pm On Oct 21, 2014
itstpia1:
That girl in the last picture, I dey suspect am o.



y?
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by lmmaculatecon: 8:31pm On Oct 21, 2014
undecided cool
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Kanwulia: 8:33pm On Oct 21, 2014
Not many NIGERIAN or AFRICAN women would stoop this low!
Imagine eating an OLD ROTTEN TOTO for papers!
TUFIAKWA!!!! grin

27 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 8:39pm On Oct 21, 2014
Kanwulia:
Not many NIGERIAN or AFRICAN women would stoop this low!
Imagine eating an OLD ROTTEN TOTO for papers!
TUFIAKWA!!!! grin

You never see anything. Dem go chop am finish, use lacasara wash am down cheesy

Come here follow us type tufiakwa

95 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by lalasticlala(m): 8:42pm On Oct 21, 2014
Chillisauce:


You never see anything. Dem go chop am finish, use lacasara wash am down cheesy

Come here follow us type tufiakwa


lol

21 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by lmmaculatecon: 8:46pm On Oct 21, 2014
Kanwulia:
Not many NIGERIAN or AFRICAN women would stoop this low!
Imagine eating an OLD ROTTEN TOTO for papers!
TUFIAKWA!!!! grin
.

on point@ kanwulia........ wink grin wink
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 8:59pm On Oct 21, 2014
itstpia1:
That girl in the last picture, I dey suspect am o.


I concur!

The 2nd and 4th old hag look like transgendered male.

2 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Dayjhihannon01(m): 9:01pm On Oct 21, 2014
AHHHHH..... WAHALA WA OOOO.... THESE ARE TOO OLD JOOOR
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by egopersonified(f): 9:04pm On Oct 21, 2014
Lala, where did you get these pictures? Lol. And to think they actually brought these women home and not do it secretly over there is quite strange. Always wondered where our celebrities get their babes, compared to my bini brothers, the difference is clear.

1 Like

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 9:54pm On Oct 21, 2014
Boys aren't smiling,everybody red eyes.

Anything to achieve your aim,even if it means marrying an old hag,whose toto don loose.

abeg use alum wash the place,no difference between it,and a regular snail.

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by pickabeau1: 9:58pm On Oct 21, 2014
Yomieluv:
Boys aren't smiling,everybody red eyes.
Anything to achieve your aim,even if it means marrying an old hag,whose toto don loose.
abeg use alum wash the place,no difference between it,and a regular snail.


What makes u think its only boys
What of the ladies who marry obodo husbands to escape poverty and then come to NL to post as Naijan in diaspora

The struggle is real

wink

47 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 10:03pm On Oct 21, 2014
Nawao!! embarassed
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by cococandy(f): 10:26pm On Oct 21, 2014
And they call us gold diggers grin
Men be digging Gold for real in ancient punnies

@chillisauce see better red eyes. Choi cheesy ROTFL everytime I see this picture

46 Likes 1 Share

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by cococandy(f): 10:32pm On Oct 21, 2014
That second picture wan kill me.
Hehehe.
Na all this jagbanjitis dey fall for scammers wey dem no wan gree us hear word say white women are dying for them. grin
Ije uwa

6 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Raiders: 11:19pm On Oct 21, 2014
cococandy:
That second picture wan kill me.
Hehehe.
Na all this jagbanjitis dey fall for scammers wey dem no wan gree us hear word say white women are dying for them. grin
Ije uwa
Who cares? People marry for different reason. There are women who marry old rich men for their money and their are also young guys who marry old women for money and other benefits. As long as both the couple are adults and are happy with their arrangements people should mind their business

12 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 12:52am On Oct 22, 2014
pickabeau1:



What makes u think its only boys
What of the ladies who marry obodo husbands to escape poverty and then come to NL to post as Naijan in diaspora

The struggle is real

wink

examples or I don't believe you grin

2 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by bebe2(f): 1:22am On Oct 22, 2014
pickabeau1:



What makes u think its only boys
What of the ladies who marry obodo husbands to escape poverty and then come to NL to post as Naijan in diaspora

The struggle is real

wink

Ehhhh madam wetin I do u nahhh grin grin
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by bebe2(f): 1:27am On Oct 22, 2014
lalasticlala:
Despite many socio-cultural problems and even an economic depression few years back, the United States of America remains the ultimate destination for many people from across the world, especially developing countries. Seen as the land of opportunity and freedom, immigrants employ several means to get permanent residence status, one of which is marrying for the green card. But in the end is it a good idea committing marriage fraud for a green card?


GREEN CARD

In the US, the green card is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien or a person who is not an original citizen of the country. Formerly known as the Alien Registration Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card, the document is informally referred to as the green card because it had been green in color from 1946 until 1964 and since May 2010, has reverted to that color. Thus obtaining a green card refers to the process of becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident or LPR in the US. Once a person has acquired a green card, it means he/she has been officially granted immigration benefits which include permission to reside and undertake employment in the USA. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS has the authority to grant green cards to applicants. However even after obtaining one, the holder must maintain permanent resident status and can be removed from the United States if certain conditions of this status are not met.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The green card wedding racket works by arranging a wedding between a regular US citizen and an alien who has come to US from a foreign country and is either staying on a temporary visa or is an illegal immigrant. The US citizen usually agrees to the wedding in return for a fat fee while the agents, touts and other middlemen get their own cut in the monetary transaction. The entire financial burden in this marriage fraud is borne by the alien who wants a green card at any cost. Once someone is legally wedded to a US citizen, he/she begins the wait for the coveted green card. The American citizen or LPR filesan I-130 petition form with USCIS if they live in the United States or, if they live abroad, at an American embassy or consulate1. Approval of the petition signifies that a consular officer or USCIS adjudicator has verified that a valid, qualifying relationship exists between an American petitioner and foreign applicant. Among the documents that the couple are required to produce while applying for the green card are typically the petition itself, marriage and birth certificates, passports, and supporting documents and photos meant to prove the validity of the relationship. Typically, couples must remain legally married for two years before the conditional status on the immigrant spouse’s green card is removed. At the interview which decides whether the conditional status should be removed, the couple is supposed to produce documentary evidence that they still live together like joint tax returns and bank accounts. Once the immigrant’s conditional status has been removed - usually after two years – the couple is free to divorce with no repercussions. And three years after removing the conditional status on the green card, the immigrant is eligible for American citizenship and after that can petition to bring his/her relatives to the United States. In this way an immigrant who had no way of becoming an American citizen on the basis of his/her professional skills or other legal grounds, is able to acquire the green card or permanent residency status.


MARRIAGE FRAUD


The primary reason which makes marrying someone for a green card a bad idea is that it entails marriage fraud. This is a federal crime and the punishment of trying to cheat immigration officials can be severe. An alien accused by authorities of marriage fraud can be deported and barred from ever obtaining a green card. And a US citizen who knowingly marries to evade immigration laws can face five years in jail2. Indeed in recent years, United States has come down hard on fraudulent marriages which promise green card in return for money. In the fall of 2005 a group of 30 conspirators was busted by immigration officials near Miami for arranging or participating in a long-running marriage-for-money scheme. The arrests were the culmination of a two-year probe, dubbed Operation Honeymooners that immigration officers say involved more than 100 fraudulent marriages. More recently the federal government agents have cracked fake marriage scams in South Florida, Chicago, Des Moines and Seattle where ring leaders were believed to have paid U.S. citizens to marry aliens so that the aliens could earn permanent residency. Despite the romanticized implications of marriage for green card as depicted in Hollywood movies like the Green Card and The Proposal, federal officials take marriage frauds very seriously. For them it is much more than a cat and mouse chase – it is a matter of national security and the offenders are likely to be punished accordingly when convicted.

Apart from the very real legal dangers of marrying for green card, it is hardly a good idea even if one is able to get past immigration officials. This is because any relationship which is based on fraud and lies is bound to flounder in the end. And even if the spouses of such a fraudulent marriage have no intention of living with each other, still the uncertainty and the anxiety during the three year waiting period can cause both to feel really uncomfortable and miserable. It can definitely harm the quality of their lives – after all how can you be happy if you are constantly looking over your shoulder in anticipation of the law coming knocking on your doorstep? For the immigrant especially, living under the shadow of deceit and crime is no way to start a new life in the land of promise.


Source: http://www.futurescopes.com/getting-married/8196/reasons-why-marrying-someone-green-card-bad-idea-fraught-risk

Ok tnk u

Long story cut short, what is the alternative.

Am in the US living illegally, oya wat do I do?

No forget say na desperation dey cause all this things o

7 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by itstpia1: 1:44am On Oct 22, 2014
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by pickabeau1: 2:17am On Oct 22, 2014
alutacontinua:


examples or I don't believe you grin


What is good for the gander is better for the goose


bebe2:

Ehhhh madam wetin I do u nahhh grin grin


Carry goooo.....nothing do u oooo
I no b madam
Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 2:45am On Oct 22, 2014
pickabeau1:



What is good for the gander is better for the goose


what are you talking about? lipsrsealed
I was asking for names of women (nairalanders) that turned Naija in Diaspora by marriage wink cheesy

1 Like

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by pickabeau1: 2:47am On Oct 22, 2014
alutacontinua:



what are you talking about? lipsrsealed
I was asking for names of women (nairalanders) that turned Naija in Diaspora by marriage wink cheesy

Why not names of guys who .married for green card

If guys do it..ladies also do it

That's the point...harasser.. tongue

1 Like

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by Nobody: 2:52am On Oct 22, 2014
pickabeau1:


Why not names of guys who .married for green card

If guys do it..ladies also do it

That's the point...harasser.. tongue

I like proof, just like op supported his claims with pictures
your statement would be more authentic if you can give at least, 5 examples to back it up cheesy grin

7 Likes

Re: Reasons Why Marrying Someone For A Green Card Is A Bad Idea Fraught With Risk by pickabeau1: 2:56am On Oct 22, 2014
alutacontinua:


I like proof, just like op supported his claims with pictures
your statement would be more authentic if you can give at least, 5 examples to back it up cheesy grin


Ehya....for NL in my earlier post..substitute online forums....

Hope that settles it


Or do u know a greencard bride who is an avid online forum poster

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