Marriage fraud happens everywhere. Specifically, foreign nationals recruit US born residents to participate in sham weddings. The Justice of the Peace Association and civil officiants have an inherent desire to maintain the integrity of the marriage process. Therefore, fraudulent marriage affects us.
Since March 2020, when the NYC marriage bureau closed during the pandemic, the number of people pursuing marriages to circumvent immigration rules or other reasons in New England states increased. In particular, incidents went up in Connecticut. Accordingly, JPs and notaries need to be aware of the signs. Then, they need to know what to do if marriage fraud is suspected.
Three Types of Marriage Fraud
The US Customs and Enforcement Agency describes three types of marriage fraud:
- A U.S. citizen is paid, or asked to perform a favor, to marry a foreign national already residing in the United States.
- “Mail-order” marriage where either the U.S. citizen or alien knows it is a fraud.
- A foreign national defrauds a U.S. citizen who believes the marriage is legitimate.
Red Flags
Marriage officiants should be aware of these possible indicators of marriage fraud.
- Couples seem disinterested in the marriage or each other.
- They don’t seem to know much about each other.
- The officiant recognizes a pattern or there is a handler. For instance, the same “brother” or “uncle” or other person represents multiple wedding partners.
- Unconventional ID: No driver’s license or municipal/state ID card.
- No shared language.
- Difference in social class or cultural background or unequal educational background.
- Separate lives. For instance, quickly getting married and then departing in separate cars.
What To Do
If marriage fraud is suspected, the officiant must follow the law. Meaning, suspicion of marriage fraud is not a reason to refuse to perform the ceremony. Instead, officiants should document and report the situation.
Document
Officiants should already have a system to keep track of every marriage performed. If marriage fraud is suspected, make note. The best system would be to keep this information digitally, so it is easy to retrieve and sort. For instance, in an Excel spreadsheet, add some columns that indicate fraud is suspected and the steps you took to report it
- Document the couples’ names and dates of birth, birthplace, address. If available, track who is contracting the marriage, too.
- Keep a copy of the front and back of the couple’s photo ID.
- Make note of your observations. Write down comments that alerted you to the the possibility of fraud.
Report
Report your suspicion to the appropriate authority. notify your town clerk. You may also report it to
- Notify the town clerk where the license was issued and the ceremony performed, and
- Report to the Department of Justice’s EOIR’s Fraud Program at 1-877-388-3840 or EOIR.Fraud.Program@usdoj.gov. There are specific instructions for making a complaint. Or,
- Call Homeland Security’s Tip Line at 1-866 -347-2423.
Related Links
Marriage fraud is not the same as human trafficking. Please see our resources on trafficking:
- Take JPus’ training, Recognizing and Responding to Child and Forced Marriage and Human Trafficking, on our LMS
- See our forced marriage and trafficking advocacy page
- Polaris has an informative Myths and Facts Sheet about human trafficking.
- Read about the other social issues that marriage officiants may encounter on our Advocacy page