RANT: People who brag about immigrating fraudulently

[EminTX 131]

I work and live in Southwest Houston where it is possibly that a full 1/2 of our employees are foreign born and this is very reflective of the neighborhood.

Because of my own openness and awareness of the immigration process, I hear a lot from folks about their fraud to get here. People are open about it and appear to be proud of their methods.

It makes me nuts.

Is this common? Does everyone else here that lives in an area with lots of foreginers hear this a lot?

The most common ones I hear about are the K-1 fraud or the AOS from student/tourist visas to spousal. As frustrating as it is to me to deal with the delays, I can't help but wonder if they are along enough to deter ANYbody.

GGggrrrrr........

(Climbing down off my soapbox now.)

[reese1 68]

The problem is those that are desperate to leave their home country have and will always try to find away around the system. It just makes it harder for those of us that are doing things the right way and have legit relationships. It is sad but, I don't think there is much that can be done that will change this.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

It is like a family tradition on my father's side. I also lived in a town with a lot of Brits and Irish FOB types and many of them did the AOS through VWP (knowing that they would AOS). There is also a lot of "marry the first American who is decently ok" type of thing, which while it isn't super fraudulent is rather morally dubious in my opinion.

I know that we do things the right way and I can live with myself for that. As soon as I know other people behave in illegal or morally iffy ways, I make up my mind that they are people I don't want around me.

[SAT 9,609]

No doubt the system is being abused. It's simply not fair to those whom are trying to do things the right way.

Edited January 20, 2013 by SteveAndTiff

[EAbbas 213]

we knew going into this journey that we could be scrutinized heavily... after all it is ISlamabad embassy and pakistan is well known for fraudulent cases. But we decided the only way to go about it is the right way and walk directly thru the fire and prayerfully come out on the other side after a year or so. Here we are filed in Nov 2010 and interview june 2011 and still in AP 19 months later.

We see daily people getting their visas in our community and i certainly am thankful that their waiting is over. However, my husband and I have come across a couple of people who obviously did it for just the green card. They don't have a good relationship, his family doesnt like his USC wife and it's so frustrating when you can tell they didn't do it the right way or for the right reasons and yet 2 weeks after his interview he received the visa. There are a few more stories just like this where it's obvious the man did it for just the green card and it's so painful when your hurting so badly for someone and going thru so much without them by your side. But I have to remind myself its because of those individuals that we are scrutinized heavily and doing purgatory for those who didn't have to.

Our daughter has a brain tumor which took up over a third of her head and growing on her optic nerve and it's inoperable at this moment. Even those medical reports couldn't relieve us from this black abyss of AP.

We will wait patiently, let the embassy do their work and finish our case when God feels it's time and we will REJOICE that we are together and walked thru the fires holding hands staying faithful this process will eventually bring us together and that WE DID IT THE RIGHT WAY!

[bigdog 376]

This is why it takes so long for us honest folks. After numerous info pass meetings, all the Io's stated their is so much fraud it slows down the system. Any leads should be reported to CBP and USCIS. Many VWP married to stay ended up in love and are great for America, others are major scammers who make it hard for us.

[destiny64 222]

There are a lot of Bosnian immigrants in Vermont , one woman who worked with me(bosnian) has a friend(bosnian) whose son married a woman from Egypt once she arrived here on a tourist visa to supposedly visit her uncle in New York. She told me they quickly got married here in Vermont two weeks after she arrived in all her traditional wedding attire. Now, tell me if that isn't blatant visa fraud then what is? You would think once they applied for their marriage visa here that USCIS would question that wouldn't you? Does USCIS really overlook that, even an average american citizen would catch that it was blatant fraud! Arriving on a tourist visa with your wedding dress in tow. I have no idea what happened after because she doesn't work with me anymore, but I was listening to her story to another co-worker and this was after my now husbands k-1 was denied. As you can imagine, I was fuming!

I said to her , you do realize that's visa fraud? You know what she said to me? She said you know moslem tradition doesn't allow a moslem woman to be with a man unless she's married to him. I replied I know all about the moslem religion because my fiance is moslem and I lived in the middle east for a good part of my teenage years, but that doesn't give an excuse to commit visa fraud. It should be done via k-1 process the same as the rest of us!!!!!! I had to walk away from her because she really thought her friends sons reasons were valid. My heart was broken that we were legit and denied our k-1 and here's a case of a woman entering on a tourist visa and marrying after two weeks , do you think they deported her? I bet not.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Our daughter has a brain tumor which took up over a third of her head and growing on her optic nerve and it's inoperable at this moment. Even those medical reports couldn't relieve us from this black abyss of AP.

We will wait patiently, let the embassy do their work and finish our case when God feels it's time and we will REJOICE that we are together and walked thru the fires holding hands staying faithful this process will eventually bring us together and that WE DID IT THE RIGHT WAY!

I am soo sorry to hear about your daughter. *hugs* That is one of the worst things you can go through as a parent.

Hopefully your husband will be able to join you soon.

[Enigma11561 336]

What I find interesting is when I read about the how the general population of certain countries "hate" Americans, but then do what they can to get here.

[EAbbas 213]

I am soo sorry to hear about your daughter. *hugs* That is one of the worst things you can go through as a parent.

Hopefully your husband will be able to join you soon.

Thank you!!! YEs it's terrible but she will be fine and when she has to have surgery i'm sure he will be home... and I have to say I'm very thankful for this site of understanding and respectful individuals who truly want to do what's right and give the right information ... I too stay away from those once I learn their intentions aren't right but glad to have ppl like all of you here on my journey with me! It's painful but it's worth it in the end!

Edited January 20, 2013 by EAbbas

[scotinmass 588]

What I find interesting is when I read about the how the general population of certain countries "hate" Americans, but then do what they can to get here.

They hate America while wearing their Nike sneakers and then head off to their local McDonalds!

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

It is my belief that we have the technology to make the process faster. I see no reason why family based petitions should take longer than one month. We pay for the privilege and there is high unemployment in the US , so get those unemployed trained for perhaps other lower jobs within USCIS and move other more technically trained upwards.

For the embassy folks, the President needs to sign an executive order requiring Consular Officers to be open and stand behind their decisions with facts and court backed proof of any denial.

I hate line jumpers as much as the other person but I can understand, not agree on, why some do it. It's not for us personally but I do not begrudge those that takes the path of least resistance. Perhaps if they improve the process then the scofflaws would not have a reason to cheat, they get in anyways so it's not for security threats, etc

Edited January 20, 2013 by Gowon

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Because of being around the local immigrant community for years I have heard all sorts of stories. Couples that legally divorce then each pay a USC to marry them, then get here get their USC and divorce and remarry each other. People from years ago that will slide through on other peoples visas/passports.

The classic now is to find some lonely older person on the internet, marry then leave once safely in the US. ( The land lords daughter did that to some poor soul from San Diego )As for speed, 9-11 killed that , got DHS involved and name checks take forever ( it takes months at work for people to get cleared and they are natural born USC's ) I do think the interview process is inherently flawed. We have much more accurate ways of telling if someone is lying and it really wouldn't be that expensive to deploy these technologies. I guess it is fighting a system that is in place and the cut over costs. I think the process needs to be more accountable.

[destiny64 222]

It is my belief that we have the technology to make the process faster. I see no reason why family based petitions should take longer than one month. We pay for the privilege and there is high unemployment in the US , so get those unemployed trained for perhaps other lower jobs within USCIS and move other more technically trained upwards.

For the embassy folks, the President needs to sign an executive order requiring Consular Officers to be open and stand behind their decisions with facts and court backed proof of any denial.

I hate line jumpers as much as the other person but I can understand, not agree on, why some do it. It's not for us personally but I do not begrudge those that takes the path of least resistance. Perhaps if they improve the process then the scofflaws would not have a reason to cheat, they get in anyways so it's not for security threats, etc

However, if they made examples of the ones who are doing it illegally maybe they would think twice before attempting it. We all know it takes a lot of time and money to deport those that do it illegally, but if they stuck to the fines and jail sentences they claim to punish when caught then we wouldn't have as big a problem as we do. Its like telling your teenager if they get caught out past curfew they'll be grounded for the next year and then not sticking to it, people talk to each other about how they succeeded and then it helps others to do the same. I'm sure some cases are hard to prove, but in my opinion I don't think anyone should be allowed to stay after they marry while on a tourist visa , they should have to follow the same protocol as the rest of us and return to their original country and wait it out like the rest of us. Just my opinion.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I worry less about what other people do, and live my life, the way I think one should.