married before entering on K-1

[Soloenta 2,218]

A Stokes Interview is the name that has been given to a certain type of second interview where a beneficiary is applying for a green card (either the conditional green card or the permanent green card) through marriage to a US citizen. The couple has already had a first interview at a USCIS office in their area and for some reason the adjudicator is suspicious that the marriage is not real. They suspect fraud - that the couple is not involved in a real relationship, or that the circumstances of the marriage are not legitimate. Usually, they suspect that the US citizen is getting some sort of benefit for going along with the scheme, and the sole purpose of the marriage is to get the immigrant a green card. Sometimes the couple does not even live in the same house, and may not even have met before the marriage. Usually the evidence is fake. This type of interview is designed to reveal this.

The couple is separated and each one is interviewed separately, often quite extensively and for a number of hours. A Stokes Interview tries to make the parties in the relationship either 'prove' that the marriage is fraudulent by their lack of basic information about their partner or the relationship, or tries to get a confession from one of them, by threatening them, or saying the other has already confessed. It is like being grilled for a crime and iin this case the interviewers don't play fair. They can and do ask about all aspects of the relationship and specific details about the other person, about the daily routines together, about their job, their family, their past, their home - things that in most cases married couples generally (but not always) know about each other. Since they start from the premise that the relationship is fraudulent it is an uphill battle for the couple to prove that their relationship is valid. The objective is that only a real relationship will pass a Stokes Interview and fake ones will either 'break' or give themselves away.

You definitely don't want to go through a Stokes type interview.

No I wouldn't want to but it seems it's all up to the interviewer, so be it at least I know mine is on the up and up and they can't do a thing to us to make it seem a fraud since it's not. We married in Oct 15 2011 yes we hadn't met before but love is just that way. We are together living in a beautiful brand new apartment and are in heaven. Just hope they see that wouldn't want to have to sit there for hours on end. Thank you so much for the extensive information I'm sure it will help many on this subject in case they aren't believed. Many blessings to you and yours.