Romance and immigration
Marriages of convenience aren’t romantic. Government poking into private lives isn’t very romantic. America’s porous borders aren’t romantic. In fact, immigration issues in general just aren’t romantic. Certainly, answering questions regarding the condom usage of you and your spouse over the past week isn’t romantic either.
Consider these other unromantic questions: “When did you and your spouse last bathe together?” or “What did your spouse wear to bed last night?” If you are a US citizen and you want your foreign-born spouse to live and work freely with you in America, immigration officers can put these kinds of questions to you both—often during separate interviews.
No enemy of romanceThat a government official can ask these kinds of questions and expect no-nonsense responses doesn’t mean that the US government wants to dampen romance or marital bliss. Quite the contrary, the government knows that it is important on many levels that those legally bound in matrimony deserve to be near and dear to each other. Indeed, US immigration laws even have special visas available for fiancées.
Every year almost half-a-million citizens of the United States marry foreign-born folks and petition for them to obtain permanent residence in the US Much of the ponderous bureaucracy and documentation required to obtain residency has been put aside for their benefit. Spouses of US citizens are considered an “immediate relative” under immigration laws. Thus, they are exempt from all numerical quota limitations that could otherwise mean months, sometimes years, of being unable to live together freely and permanently.
Raised eyebrows
The US government has made it so easy for an American and a foreign spouse that marriage to a US citizen is often referred to as the “fast lane” to permanent residency and a green card. The “immediate relative” status wipes away a number of medical, civil, and criminal bench marks that could possibly prevent a similar unmarried person from even considering a visit to the US, much less gaining residency.
As a consequence, immigration authorities certainly raise an eyebrow when a foreign-born person marries immediately upon entering the US If a foreigner marries while in the midst of USCIS legal proceedings to remove them from American soil, the authorities will certainly check the bona fides of that marriage.
Going too far
Any number of circumstances in a petition for permanent residency can cause immigration authorities to wonder about marital bona fides. That marriage to a US citizen is often traded on the international black market probably makes immigration officers a bit overzealous in trying to weed out marriages of convenience.
The American public is nonchalant talking about and hearing about sex. But, American lawyers representing couples before the USCIS have spoken of immigration officers who have gone too far during marriage interviews, of instructing their clients not to answer certain personal questions, even of guiding their clients out of proceedings when questioning got too raunchy.
Many immigrants to the US come from countries with many sexual taboos that westerners can’t even imagine. A question as innocuous as “Do you and your spouse have sex?” is cause for many to blush, squirm, and become tongue-tied. This only casts further aspersions on their attempt to have their marriage declared valid by immigration authorities.
Marital minutiae
People whose marriages are under scrutiny by the USCIS are already somewhat demeaned, already somewhat down on their dignity. To then have their sexual inclinations examined is way out of bounds for them and should be for their inquisitors as well.
Consider again: “Do you and your spouse use condoms?” What if the woman says “No!” to the question, because she knows it’s against certain religious tenets and fears perhaps those tenets have some authority in immigration law? What if the husband says “Yes!” because it’s true?
At this low point in the questioning, understand that the couple has already been asked myriad questions concerning the excruciating minutiae of their day-to-day life together, from the color of the bed spread, to where the car keys are kept, and on to the names of aunts and uncles. The sex questions are embarrassingly meaningless.
The ability to blush
One of the great givens in American law is that innocence is presumed until proven otherwise. Also, the dignity and the worth of the individual are prized. It is demeaning to those precepts, as it is demeaning to the couple under scrutiny, to ask unnecessarily detailed questions regarding sex. Does asking perhaps indicate a bit of prurience on the part of the investigators?
Questions regarding sexual details really have no place in establishing the bona fides of a marriage. They prove nothing except the ability to blush. The plethora of other questions provides material enough to detect the realities of the relationship. Even though sex is part of the romance of marriage, sexual explicity isn’t very romantic, especially not when included in the inquisitions of a pallid, thin-lipped government bureaucrat.
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Lazaro Law Group, Professional Corporation represents immigrants all over the United States and US Embassy in Manila. The firm’s offices are located in San Francisco, Makati City (Philippines), and Fremont, Union City California. Telephone (415)278-9577. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Website: www.LazaroLaw.com.
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This article should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information is intended to be general and should not be relied upon for any specific situation. This is not meant to create a lawyer-client relationship.
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