Severe Penalties for Sham Marriages to Gain Citizenship
On July 24, 2009, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an Ohio immigration attorney and a businessman on charges of marriage fraud. The Ohio-based immigration attorney and the businessman were alleged to have entered into separate sham marriages with two U.S. citizens in order to obtain citizenship. A marriage entered into for the purpose of gaining citizenship carries severe penalties of up to a $250,000 and/or five years imprisonment.
To convict a person of marriage fraud, the government must prove the following:
1) the person knowingly entered into a marriage;
2) the marriage was entered into for the purpose of evading immigration laws; and
3) the person knew or had reason to know of the immigration laws.
The above illustrates that anyone trying to evade the immigration laws by entering into sham marriages might not obtain citizenship, but rather might enjoy the harsh penalties that could be imposed.The article about this case is available at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Web site.
would the american citizen that entered into a sham marriage be penalized, too? Would he/she split the $250,000 penalty with the non-immigrant party?
Thank you for your inquiry. This is a complicated area, and without more details it is impossible to give a real legal opinion.
However, in general, under the statute, the government has to prove that the person (whether foreign national or U.S citizen) (1) knowingly entered into a marriage; (2) the marriage was entered into for the purpose of evading a provision of the immigration laws; and (3) the person knew or had reason to know of the immigration laws. Thus, the government could bring charges against the U.S. citizen as well.
Good luck to you. Please let us know if we can be of any service to you in the future.
Robert A. Kraft