If your wife uses you only for a green card, would that be grounds for annulment?

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Ben_Sinner

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This is a problem I’m weary of when dating international, especially online.

If that were to happen, would I pretty much be out of luck, or could I just get an annulment since that seems like a fraudulent action?
 
An intention against the permanence of marriage is grounds for annulment. So, if someone married a person, intending only to stay married a short while, then yeah, it would be an invalid marriage, if it could be proven to be true in a nullity proceeding.

A serious question, though: if you had a real doubt in your mind that someone was marrying you with honest intent… why would you go ahead and marry them?
 
Also if you knew that is it not a criminal offence to go ahead with the marriage?
 
thistle said:
Also if you knew that is it not a criminal offence to go ahead with the marriage?
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Presumably, you have discovered your spouse’s true intentions after having already married. It’s not a criminal offence to be deceived like that…merely traumatic.
 
**That only happens in the movies. **
My husband is an immigrant from Ireland to the U.S.
Being married to me made NO DIFFERENCE in the immigration green card/permanent residency process.
It’s about MONEY.
You need MONEY to get a green card.
That’s why so many don’t have one.
Being married to an American doesn’t help your cause at all. A person can apply for residency via a fiancé, yes, but the bottom line is that ***it is not a guarantee of anything. ***
Until that person comes up with a wealthy sponsor or cash, …there’s little that being married has to do with it.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
This is a problem I’m weary of when dating international, especially online.

If that were to happen, would I pretty much be out of luck, or could I just get an annulment since that seems like a fraudulent action?
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It would sound like strong grounds for an annulment.

It would have taken considerable deceit on her part to endure guiling the individual into engagement, and to make it through the discernment and preparation phases offered by the church. However, simple due diligence is enough to repel such frauds.

Such an individual would push for a quick elopement at City Hall, and would bail if the Catholic party insisted on a church wedding (usually requiring 6 months or more advanced notice to make arrangements).
 
pianistclare said:
**That only happens in the movies. **
My husband is an immigrant from Ireland to the U.S.
Being married to me made NO DIFFERENCE in the immigration green card/permanent residency process.
It’s about MONEY. You need MONEY to get a green card.
That’s why so many don’t have one.
Being married to an American doesn’t help your cause at all. A person can apply for residency via a fiancé, yes, but the bottom line is that ***it is not a guarantee of anything. *** Until that person comes up with a wealthy sponsor or cash, …there’s little that being married has to do with it.
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What you say is interesting to me, although I won’t go into the details why. Do you mean when someone goes to the US they have to have a guarantor for a certain amount? If so, can you tell me how much?
Thanks, Concerned Mother
PS I also play and teach piano.
 
zamyrabyrd said:
What you say is interesting to me, although I won’t go into the details why. Do you mean when someone goes to the US they have to have a guarantor for a certain amount? If so, can you tell me how much?
Thanks, Concerned Mother
PS I also play and teach piano.
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A relative of mine, an American citizen, married a Frenchman. He and his wife had an interview with the USCIS, and he got his temporary green card. Then, a few years - I think - later, they had another interview, and he got his permanent green card and became an American citizen soon after. I think they paid a few hundred dollars to cover the cost of biometrics, etc. Honestly, getting a driver’s license can be more of a hassle. It was a very simple procedure, very smooth, but I suppose the USCIS officer could have made it more difficult.

My mother played piano, I have played violin since age five.
 
zamyrabyrd said:
What you say is interesting to me, although I won’t go into the details why. Do you mean when someone goes to the US they have to have a guarantor for a certain amount? If so, can you tell me how much?
Thanks, Concerned Mother
PS I also play and teach piano.
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It means you have to either sponsor yourself, but providing documentation that you have adequate finds in the bank to live without government assistance, government healthcare or anything of that nature.
If you do not have that, you have to have someone sponsor you: and THEY have to have the wherewithal to provide such support for you. They also have to sign that in the event that you need care above and beyond what they can provide and pay for, that THEY will be financially responsible fro reimbursing the government for your expenses.
Which is why no one wants to sponsor anyone.
Companies can sponsor someone if, and only if, they can show that the person they sponsor is the only person they could find to do a specific job. That n U.S. citizen could be found to do that job. Again, highly unlikely. I do know of employers who have sponsored people personally though, (not professionally).
The fees for having an attorney vary wildly, and I will say that having an attorney speeds up the process to about 2-4 years. Very helpful. Many churches have programs for free counseling, and even will help fill out the paperwork, and get your a lawyer advocate if you are really impoverished. Those people are saints, and severely overworked.
We paid roughly 10 grand to an immigration law firm, and waited 4 years for everything to be settled. At first they oddly had him listed as a female instead of a male, and that was yet another nightmare to unravel.
At the 5 year mark he was eligible to become a citizen, but wants to retain dual citizenship. haven’t really looked into that yet. Just a sigh of relief that he’d legit for now.
There’s a lot of loathing for immigrants in the U.S. right now…employers run the other way, people get on a rant about them, all kinds of nasty stuff.
Good luck!
 
pianistclare said:
It means you have to either sponsor yourself, but providing documentation that you have adequate finds in the bank to live without government assistance, government healthcare or anything of that nature.
If you do not have that, you have to have someone sponsor you: and THEY have to have the wherewithal to provide such support for you. They also have to sign that in the event that you need care above and beyond what they can provide and pay for, that THEY will be financially responsible fro reimbursing the government for your expenses.
Which is why no one wants to sponsor anyone.
Companies can sponsor someone if, and only if, they can show that the person they sponsor is the only person they could find to do a specific job. That n U.S. citizen could be found to do that job. Again, highly unlikely. I do know of employers who have sponsored people personally though, (not professionally).
The fees for having an attorney vary wildly, and I will say that having an attorney speeds up the process to about 2-4 years. Very helpful. Many churches have programs for free counseling, and even will help fill out the paperwork, and get your a lawyer advocate if you are really impoverished. Those people are saints, and severely overworked.
We paid roughly 10 grand to an immigration law firm, and waited 4 years for everything to be settled. At first they oddly had him listed as a female instead of a male, and that was yet another nightmare to unravel.
At the 5 year mark he was eligible to become a citizen, but wants to retain dual citizenship. haven’t really looked into that yet. Just a sigh of relief that he’d legit for now.
There’s a lot of loathing for immigrants in the U.S. right now…employers run the other way, people get on a rant about them, all kinds of nasty stuff.
Good luck!
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Thanks. My concern is the subject of the thread, if indeed this person is using someone to get a green card. If that is the case, I hope she doesn’t for all her trouble.
That said, I don’t know how so many south of the border immigrants get in and bypass the bureaucracy.
 
zamyrabyrd said:
Thanks. My concern is the subject of the thread, if indeed this person is using someone to get a green card. If that is the case, I hope she doesn’t for all her trouble.
That said, I don’t know how so many south of the border immigrants get in and bypass the bureaucracy.
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Getting in is easy. All you need is a passport.
Staying and getting legal if you are poor is near impossible.

Again, marrying an American citizen gives you no special consideration for citizenship or residency on its own.
 
zamyrabyrd said:
It would be nice to play a virtual duet.
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Yes, it would be! 👍

I don’t know if this is still the law, but when people come here and overstay their allotted time, if they aren’t thrown out and marry a US citizen instead, they can stay with a minimum of fuss. Now the US spouse does have to show he or she can support his new wife or husband, but the process is easy.

Actually, this overstaying the welcome seems to make things a lot easier than applying for a fiance(e) visa.

As I said, though, the law may have changed. If someone is using someone else just to get a visa, I believe it is a crime. It’s certainly grounds for a denial of the visa.

My American relative married a Frenchman who had overstayed his welcome. He and my cousin married in the US and went to the USCIS shortly afterward. Very easy interview, and he got a temporary green card. Got a job, then after a few years, got a permanent green card. After five years of marriage, he became a US citizen. Didn’t pay more than $200 during the whole process.

I can imagine things would be much harder had he been from a country not in the visa waiver program.

A lot of south of the border illegals get legal by crossing the border and giving birth in the US. “Anchor babies.” Then they can say that as the parent of a US citizen, they can stay in the US, and they can. That loophole should be closed.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
This is a problem I’m weary of when dating international, especially online.

If that were to happen, would I pretty much be out of luck, or could I just get an annulment since that seems like a fraudulent action?
Click to expand...
In theory, this is an easily clear-cut example of a fictitious (invalid) marriage. The intentions are blatantly sacrilegious. Although I imagine it could be a bit of a headache to demonstrate and show.
 
It happened all the time, back when marriage meant automatic permanent residency. Apparently it was common, as it even became the plot of a “Love Boat” episode.

If you could prove that that was the spouse’s intention, then yes, it would be grounds for an annulment.

ICXC NIKA
 
Lily_Bernans said:
Yes, it would be! 👍

A lot of south of the border illegals get legal by crossing the border and giving birth in the US. “Anchor babies.” Then they can say that as the parent of a US citizen, they can stay in the US, and they can. That loophole should be closed.
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The “anchor baby” scam is a misinterpretation and even abuse of the 14th Amendment that was supposed to give citizenship to slaves already living in the US for generations.
A good analogy of whether someone can claim citizenship if a diplomat’s wife has a child while living in the US. Of course not while they are foreign nationals and neither can tourists demand citizenship either.
 
zamyrabyrd said:
The “anchor baby” scam is a misinterpretation and even abuse of the 14th Amendment that was supposed to give citizenship to slaves already living in the US for generations.
A good analogy of whether someone can claim citizenship if a diplomat’s wife has a child while living in the US. Of course not while they are foreign nationals and neither can tourists demand citizenship either.
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A diplomat is not a good analogy because he is representing another nation in an official capacity. His person and relatives are subject to his nation’s citizenship laws and are specifically excluded by US law. However, even the diplomat’s child could apply for a SSN and it would be given due to US policy of de facto universal birthright citizenship.

Tourists, others, etc are not excluded from their children being considered citizens according to the current US “natural born” law. Most will not apply or register their children as US citizens for their own reasons, some do.
 
SyroMalankara said:
A diplomat is not a good analogy because he is representing another nation in an official capacity. His person and relatives are subject to his nation’s citizenship laws and are specifically excluded by US law. However, even the diplomat’s child could apply for a SSN and it would be given due to US policy of de facto universal birthright citizenship.

Tourists, others, etc are not excluded from their children being considered citizens according to the current US “natural born” law. Most will not apply or register their children as US citizens for their own reasons, some do.
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From what I understand, I may be wrong, that only some states allow this interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
 
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