Marriage fraud is a felony offense.

One-sided marriage fraud is a form of immigration fraud in which a foreign national attempts, conspires, or enters into a marriage for the purpose of evading U.S. immigration laws, while concealing that intent from the U.S. citizen spouse. Congress enacted the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 (IMFA) in direct response to widespread abuse of marriage-based immigration and expressly treated marriage fraud as a serious offense rather than a private marital dispute.

Through IMFA, Congress both strengthened civil enforcement and criminalized marriage fraud as a standalone felony, now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1325(c). IMFA also imposed structural safeguards to detect fraudulent intent, including conditional permanent residence under 8 U.S.C. § 1186a and the permanent bar in INA § 204(c), which prohibits approval of any petition where the beneficiary has attempted or conspired to enter a marriage to evade the immigration laws—regardless of whether the U.S. citizen spouse participated in or knew of the fraud.

These provisions reflect Congress’s recognition that marriage fraud is frequently one-sided, involving deception of the U.S. citizen petitioner rather than mutual collusion. When enforcement mechanisms fail to operate as Congress intended, foreign nationals can exploit waiver provisions or collateral benefits to sever the citizen spouse from the process, leaving victims exposed to long-term legal and financial consequences and undermining the integrity of the IMFA framework.