How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Days
| Publication year | 1987 |
| Pages | 57 |
1987, January, Pg. 57. How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Days
Bona fide marriages between U.S. citizens (or lawful permanent residents) and aliens traditionally have created valuable benefits for the individuals involved. The family has been the basic building block of U.S. immigration. However, such marital arrangements have long been suspected to be attempts to avoid deportation. The effect of these marriages, although not automatic, was the prompt interruption of expulsion proceedings. Congress has passed a sweeping new law designed to halt the "sham" marriage maneuver by delaying visa petition approval longer than many of these marriages may last.
In addition to the sweeping provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,(fn1) the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 ("IMFA"),(fn2) an act signed by President Reagan on November 10, 1986, will make it more difficult for aliens to acquire legal immigration status through marriage to U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens. IMFA is intended to deter those aliens who have (entered into fraudulent marriages to take advantage of the special consideration the present immigration law has given to spouses of U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens.
Marriages entered into when no expulsion proceedings are pending are now only conditionally approved. The couples will be considered for final approval two years later. In these cases, the newly weds are permitted to live together in the U.S. during the two-year period.
This article summarizes only the new marriage law as enacted. It is too early to speculate as to the forthcoming regulations.
Immigration marriage fraud ordinarily appears in two forms. The first type occurs when an alien pays a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien to marry him or her in order to obtain immigration status. The second type of fraud involves a U.S. citizen or permanent resident alien who marries an alien but later finds that the alien was motivated not by love but solely by the...
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