Sham Marriages

[thumbmuse]

I have a friend who entered a sham marriage with a Canadian woman he befriended at his last job. She offered him $10,000 to get married and he accepted to help her out and agreed to move in with her. He wasn't aware of how serious a crime this was until recently when he started researching the topic. They are still months away from their first interview and he hasn't gone to live with her yet and it's been six months since they got married. He now feels very uncomfortable with the whole situation and has asked her for a divorce before the interview and that she go back to Canada so they might both get out of it clean. She replied by giving him an ultimatum that either she would divorce him if he paid her the money back (which he doesn't have anymore) or he had to go through with it, otherwise she was going to "bring them both down" (which sounded to me like a desparate threat).

He is now considering a few options and I wanted to post here to see if I could help him any. He would like to withdraw his sponsorship for her, and is also contemplating going straight to the USCIS and explaining his story...he has told me he would rather face the consequences of that than be involved in a lie anymore. Should he hire an attorney? If so should they be an immigration lawyer? If he talks to an immigration agent and tells them about it what will happen to him? He is a big hearted person and I'd hate to see it go any more wrong for him. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Your friend shouldn't just walk into a USCIS or Department of Homeland Security office and start confessing to felonies, unless he likes the thought of being criminally prosecuted. If he believes confession to be good for the soul, he should retain a criminal defense lawyer and work through the lawyer. Otherwise, he should retain an immigration lawyer to determine his responsibilities.