Immigration Lawyer Blog
In this video attorney Jacob Sapochnick talks about your options, as a U.S. Citizen, if you have just discovered that your foreign spouse used you to obtain a green card.
When such a case arises, and we are representing the U.S. Citizen who has just discovered that they have been defrauded, we advise our client to seek outside counsel. We cannot advise our client on how to proceed if we have filed the case because providing such advise creates a conflict of interest.
If our office did not file the green card petition, then it is possible for us to assess the U.S. Citizens options by having a consultation and discussing the situation at hand.
Where the U.S. Citizen has good cause to believe that their foreign spouse defrauded them and they can provide some evidence to demonstrate the fraud, the U.S. Citizen can alert USCIS of the fraud and provide documentary evidence of that fraud to support your claims
Simply telling USCIS that your spouse committed green card fraud will not cause USCIS to revoke the foreign national’s green card. If USCIS finds your claims to be credible, then USCIS will use their discretion and investigate the claims you allege. This is not an easy process. It takes time, and substantial effort on USCIS’ part to conduct such an investigation. If the foreign spouse has a 2-year conditional green card, then they will be required to remove their conditions and prove that they entered the marriage in good faith. The removal of conditions application may be filed by a foreign spouse without the U.S. Citizen petitioner, but the process is more difficult when filing alone.
We do not recommend alerting USCIS of marriage fraud out of spite, but if you have good cause to believe your spouse committed marriage fraud, then it is your right to notify USCIS. It will however be up to them to take action.
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