President Trump’s immigration officials are dramatically tightening the rules against fraudulent marriages, intensifying efforts to stop illegal migrants from paying U.S. citizens to fake marriages in order to secure permanent residency.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that these tougher standards will apply to all green card marriage applications—both new filings and those already in the system.
In a clear message, USCIS stated: “Fraudulent, frivolous, or otherwise non-meritorious family-based immigrant visa petitions erode confidence in family-based pathways to lawful permanent resident status and undermine family unity in the United States.”
To enforce the crackdown, USCIS now requires extensive financial documentation proving couples have authentic relationships. Applicants must submit detailed financial records, such as joint bank accounts, shared mortgages or leases, utility bills listing both names, family photos, and personal letters from relatives and friends verifying the legitimacy of the marriage.
The Trump administration is also significantly increasing the frequency and intensity of face-to-face interviews to confirm whether marriages are genuine. During these interviews, agents will ask specific questions about personal histories, daily routines, and how well applicants know each other. Additionally, the immigration records of migrant spouses will be rigorously examined, including a thorough review of past visa applications and immigration status changes.
“We are committed to keeping Americans safe by detecting aliens with potentially harmful intent so they can be processed for removal from the United States,” USCIS emphasized in its statement.
These measures respond to decades of unchecked marriage fraud, often fueled by sophisticated criminal networks. Last year alone, multiple high-profile cases illustrated how corrupt officials exploited weak marriage laws. Wanda Geter-Pataky, a former Connecticut bureaucrat and justice of the peace, was arrested after allegedly officiating more than 100 fraudulent marriages per month during the Biden administration.
In another alarming 2022 case, prosecutors charged eleven individuals for orchestrating over 400 sham marriages, using fake unions solely as a backdoor pathway to American citizenship. The operators paid Americans to marry illegal migrants, who then fraudulently secured green cards.
Trump’s latest crackdown sends a powerful warning to fraudsters: the days of easily exploiting America’s immigration system through fake marriages are over. His administration is determined to dismantle these schemes, protect American families, and secure U.S. borders once and for all.
