The USCIS does more than just adjudicate immigration applications. Officers within this agency also pursue cases and clients that could potentially be seeking immigration benefits through fraudulent application materials or behaviors. As such, some officers are trained specifically to look for certain indicators that they may be dealing with a case of immigration fraud. For example, because of the multiple types of applications, this could happen with applicants who are seeking religious work in the U.S. (I-360 Petition for Special Immigrant), I-130 petitioners, students in the U.S. committing visa fraud, as well as other types of marriage fraud.
In this blog, we will cover some of the main indicators for fraud in different immigrant and non-immigrant categories.
Background
Formally, the USCIS has its own fraud detection and national security directorate. This is referred to as the FDNS. On the USCIS website, the FDNS lists its mission as seeking to safeguard the nations lawful immigration system by leading agency efforts to combat fraud, detect national security threats, and maximize law enforcement and the intelligence community.[1]
As part of this unit, the USCIS does more than just judge the weight of potentially fraudulent applications. Officers might also undergo compliance reviews with organizations/businesses, conduct interviews, make site visits, and also issue the common RFE to better aid their process in deciding on cases.
Indicators for Employment-Based Fraud
Being trained to figure out if an application is fraudulent or not means looking for the right fraud indicators in an immigrant case. For employment based fraud, some of these indicators include the following:
- Providing an unusual company email
- Skill/age/salary/education of the principal applicant does not match the job requirement
- No record of the organization providing any goods or services (no website, platform, or physical location)
- Unusual data in organizations’ quarterly reports/financials
Indicators for Religious Worker Fraud
In addition to the employment category, some immigrants are coming to the United States in pursuit of religious work. Some of the indicators that might alert USCIS officers in terms of possible fraud include the following:
- Services are being conducted at a non-religious address, property, or organization
- Tax documentation for the principal applicant shows they had previously been working in a different non-religious capacity
- Congregation size does not match the number of employees
Indicators for Family-Based Fraud
Indicators in the family based immigration category are probably the most extensive. The list of possible indicators for family based immigration fraud include the following:
- Short time between entry period and marriage for principal applicant
- Unusual cultural differences between partners engaged in a marriage green card application
- Petitioners relationship to the principal applicant seeking an immigration benefit is questionable
- Large numbers of children dependents
In general, while it is not the goal of immigrant and non-immigrant applicants to commit visa/immigration fraud, the above mentioned indicators should be avoided in order for the USCIS to smoothly process your case. In addition, the above lists show that the USCIS is trained to look out for specific information, or omitted information in your immigration application. Making sure to review these indicators can be a helpful way for those seeking legal entry into the country to have a hassle free process.
