There are numerous ways to get a green card, but one tactic that people often use is applying for a green card after getting married. If you are a citizen and you marry someone who is not a citizen, for example, you may then be able to help them apply for a green card to be granted on the grounds that the two of you are a married couple.
Marriage fraud is what happens when people pretend to be married but the whole thing is an immigration scam. They’re just trying to get a green card, and they’ve set up the marriage for that purpose from the very beginning. The two people are certainly not a couple, and they may not even know each other very well. In some cases, they may be friends, with one person agreeing to the false marriage to help the other person stay in the country.
Is this common?
The majority of marriages are absolutely legitimate, but this does happen enough that the government is wary of it. There have been cases where people have set up hundreds of fake marriages to obtain green cards.
Often, what the government will do is simply have you and your spouse go through an interview process. They’ll talk to you and try to determine if your relationship is fraudulent or legitimate. They’ll probably just ask you questions about your everyday lives or things about your relationship that you and your spouse should answer the same way – such as when you met or where you got married.
If you’ve been accused of marriage fraud, it can be very detrimental to your status in the country. You always need to make sure that you know exactly what legal steps to take and what options you have when your future is at stake.