DOJ Board Adds New Mechanism to Deter Marriage Fraud
U.S. citizen spouses duped by sham claims of love can clean up their mistakes and seek justice
By Andrew R. Arthur on February 25, 2026
Marriage fraud, a topic my late colleague David North covered prolifically, is an understated affront to our legal immigration system. On February 13, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the DOJ tribunal that reviews administrative immigration decisions, added a new mechanism to foil illicit claims in its an opinion in Matter of Jin — and this one could be a game changer because it allows U.S.-citizen spouses duped by bogus claims of love to clean up their mistakes and seek sweet justice.
Family-Based Migration
Each year, roughly one million new immigrants receive what’s called “lawful permanent resident” (LPR) status, that is, “green cards”.
As my colleague Jessica Vaughan has reported, most — 61 percent — of green cards have been “family-based” visas, granted to foreign nationals related to someone already here.
“Immediate-relative” visas, which are issued to the spouses, unmarried minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens are the most popular because, unlike other categories, there are no annual limits on their issuance and thus no waiting period for a green card.
And of the 1.018 million-plus green cards issued in FY 2022 (the last year for which stats are available), more than 238,000 (23.4 percent of the total) went to the spouses of U.S. citizens.
https://cis.org/Arthur/DOJ-Board-Adds-New-Mechanism-Deter-Marriage-Fraud
