Definition of Matrimonial Fraud

Marriage fraud can only occur when a marriage is entered into for the SOLE purpose of gaining an immigration benefit.  (U.S Immigration)

A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into purely for the purpose of gaining a benefit or other advantage arising from that status. (Wikipedia)

“enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading the immigration laws.” (Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 204(c).)

Entering marriages of convenience so that they can sidestep Canada’s immigration law. Section 4 of the IRPA regulations (R4) prohibits marriages of convenience, including relationships of convenience or bad faith relationships, which are relationships that are not genuine and that were entered into primarily to obtain immigration status. In other words, it is against the law to enter a marriage only so that the sponsored partner can get into Canada. (Government of Canada)

Above are various definition of matrimonial fraud as specified by each country. Although matrimonial fraud does not hit the spotlight of public like the Enron or WorldCom financial scandal, it surely affect someones life. Among various definition of matrimonial fraud, the most common is relating to Immigration Law of certain country. 

U.S Immigration for example imposed a regulation that limit the number of people wishing to obtain a "green card" or "permanent resident card".

Many whose job skills are not in sufficiently high demand or do not have a very close family relationship might find that the door of receiving a green card was close for them. The only way to open that door is through marriage. 

This is because spouses of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (green card holders) are particularly favored under the immigration laws. Spouses of U.S. citizens are considered “immediate relatives,” and eligible for an immigrant visa or green card just as soon as they can get through the application process. This naturally leads some would-be immigrants to keep an eye on the possibility of marriage to a U.S. citizen. If unable to find someone they truly want to marry, they may end up marrying a friend or paying a stranger to help them immigrate. Such cases are considered marriage fraud.

The immigration authorities accordingly place marriage fraud high on their list of enforcement priorities. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service or INS) does not keep actual statistics on marriage fraud, but has stated, at various times, that between one third and one fifth of the marriage-based applications that it receives are based on fraud.

The next entry will discuss various legislation that prohibits matrimonial fraud. Although there is not much cases of matrimonial fraud happen here in Malaysia, the discussion might help us to understand the modus operandi of the fraud perpetrators. With the flood of Indonesian, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and other types of immigrant nowadays in Malaysia, it is not impossible that one day ladies of Malaysia will be the possible victims of this fraud in order for these immigrant to get their citizenship.

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