What are Red Flags in my Marriage-Based Green Card Application?
Certain facts about you and your spouse can make USCIS more likely to think that your relationship is for immigration benefits and not bona fide.
If one or more of these apply to you or your spouse, it does not necessarily mean that you won’t succeed in your application. However, you should be aware that you will need to provide more proof of your relationship and have legitimate explanations for your circumstances. Any of these factors could put your relationship under more scrutiny from USCIS:
Large age gap
If you have an age gap of 10 years or more between you and your spouse, this could raise a red flag for USCIS. You should make sure to show other commonalities between you and your partner and ensure that other evidence for your relationship is strong.
Marriage history
If the U.S. Citizen in the relationship has petitioned for others in the past through marriage-based cases, this means that their past relationships ended in divorce. Although your relationship may be different, this could raise some suspicion from USCIS. They could think that you have had false marriages in the past or that you are consistently marrying people for immigration opportunities.
Inability to communicate in a shared language
If you and your partner do not speak a shared language well enough to have a conversation, this could raise serious concerns for USCIS. They may wonder how you have been able to communicate with your partner and build a shared life. You will want to show that you have found a way to communicate and are working towards learning each other's languages.
Living separately
This is one of the most common and most harmful red flags in your marriage case. USCIS wants to see that you and your spouse are spending time together and entangling your lives. Also, it is standard that most married couples live together. If you are not living together after your marriage, especially if you are both in the same country, you will need to provide a strong explanation. You should also show that you are still in communication (texts, phone calls, visits) and that you have plans to move in together as soon as possible.
Minimal financial commingling
Documentation is essential to proving a bona fide marriage. The USCIS wants to see that you have commingled your finances, such as having joint bank accounts, a shared lease, insurance policies where you are both beneficiaries, and utility bills. It is also important to note that the USCIS will notice if these accounts are merely created for the purpose of providing evidence for your relationship. For example, creating a joint account with little money put in and with minimal spending from the account, or opening a credit card a few days before your interview, may seem fraudulent.
Fast courtship/marriage timing
If you began dating and got married very quickly, this could also raise red flags for USCIS. In the interview and supporting documents, they want to see a story for your relationship. This can mean being able to explain when you fell in love, when you decided you wanted to marry your spouse, and how you met and began to date. A fast courtship can become even more suspicious if the beneficiary in the marriage has a non-immigrant visa that is about to expire or has just been put into deportation proceedings right before the marriage. You will need to be able to explain the timeline of your relationship and give a compelling story about how you decided to get married to your partner.
Significant differences in religious/cultural backgrounds
Although many people have successful relationships and marriages with partners of different faiths and cultures, USCIS will want to know how this difference manifests in your marriage. For example, if one partner follows a specific diet for religious reasons, the interviewer will want to know how the other partner chooses to support this diet, even if it is not part of their own religion. You must be able to demonstrate an understanding of your partner’s religious and cultural identity and explain how differences in either of these identities work in your marriage.
Secret marriage
If people close to you don’t know about your marriage and you don’t post about your partner on social media (if you often post other life events), it may seem like you are trying to conceal your marriage from other people. This could be a major red flag for USCIS, and it may seem like you are not committed to your partner.
Although these factors will likely increase the level of scrutiny of USCIS on your marriage, it does not mean that you should try to manufacture evidence or conceal any of these factors with falsified information.
You will need to have strong explanations for any of these aspects of your relationship and provide even more evidence to prove that your marriage is bona fide.
What do I do if the USCIS officer seems suspicious during my interview?
If the officer is suspicious of your marriage during the interview, or if they notice one of the red flags listed above, they may separate you and your spouse to question you individually. They will ask you similar questions and compare your answers for accuracy. This is called a stokes interview. Sometimes, a stokes interview can happen after your first interview is complete. In this case, you will be called back by USCIS for a secondary interview where you will be separated and asked more in-depth questions. Recently, many Stokes interviews have occurred during the initial interview if the USCIS officer becomes suspicious. Stokes interview questions can be as specific as asking what kind of toothpaste your partner uses or what time they generally get up in the morning.
