What is an Immigration Marriage Fraud Interview?

There are many people who base their application for a green card on the basis of their marriage to a US citizen. But in some cases it has been noted in the past that there have fraud where these people have been in false marriages only to obtain a green card. Keeping this in mind the US government has made provisions for what is known as ‘Immigration marriage fraud interview’.

This happens if the U.S. immigration authorities feel that your marriage might be a false one that you are using to obtain a green card. In order to gauge whether your marriage is a real one or not the immigrant and their partner (could be either fiancé or spouse) is called for a fraud interview. The interview is an opportunity for the couples to prove that they have a real marriage and the immigration authorities the opportunity to gauge them better. The interview is held in the US. And if the applicant is overseas, your partner/ spouse will have to attend the interview alone.

Applicants get an advance notice of a fraud interview and this usually this isn’t a good sign because the USCIS has doubts about your marriage. This usually makes many couples very nervous because they don’t know what they will ask in an interview. If you are not very sure of being able to handle the interview you could hire an attorney to help you out and be with you during the interview too.
The problem though is that this is often also used as an excuse by some officials to discriminate against some couples. Since the onus of labeling a couple as authentic or not is pretty much on the basis of the personal evaluation of the immigration officer, there have been many a case where this has also been exploited.

Also this interview is often seen by couples as an embarrassment, where they are asked to sometimes describe in details their private lives and divulge facts that they may not e comfortable sharing.

The usual format of a classic fraud interview is where a USCIS officer puts you and your spouse in different rooms. The couple is then separately asked different set of questions which is later compared by the officers. Any couple who attends this interview first needs to be prepared on what they could be asked and pay attention to details that they might have ignored so long.

The Shah Peerally Law Firm has helped many such couples through the different stages of interviews and prepared them well in advance. In fact the firm has in lieu with Shah Peerally Films produced a film that will help immigration marriage fraud interviewees, in understanding what the whole issue is all about and how you need to handle it. If you get nervous and say things that do not coincide with your partner’s replies it can be all the more difficult for you.

The short film is thus very helpful for all those preparing for the interview and will hopefully be able to avert any denials for the couples.