Three family members have been arrested and been accused with visa fraud. The family run an immigration consulting business explains a New York City Criminal Lawyer. The family is accused of filing fake marriage and visa petitions. The foreigners who hired their services pad as much as $60,000 for the services.
The NYC Family Lawyer states that these crimes are very serious. The family members involved in the illegal activities could actually end up spending up to five years in prison. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement department detected the illegal activity and decided to investigate. Lawyers in The Bronx and Brooklyn encounter fraud cases such as this many times a year.
The members of the family managed to carry out the fraud by finding US citizens from low income backgrounds. They offered them $2,000 to marry clients so that they can obtain visas. These sham marriages served no purpose other than to allow people to apply for residence permits and visas.
The fees paid to the company were $15,000 for a work visa, up to $60,000 for a visa which was based on marrying a US citizen. The fees charged were able to be very high because what they were offering was completely illegal.
This was a very serious crime because it is important that the US immigration system is not for sale. It should not be possible for foreigners to fraudulently obtain visas to work and live in the USA. Paying people to marry foreigners is obviously a major abuse of the system.
The investigation into the case started towards the end of 2009 explains the NY Criminal Lawyer. They spotted that there were some similarities between different applications which were handled by the company. This was enough to raise concerns about the company as many of the same marriage and divorce certificates were the same ones used for different applications.
The company’s website mentions that it offers immigration services in a number of different areas of the country and the world. They also provide similar services in Georgia, New Jersey and even India. This means that shutting down this small business has probably had a big impact on immigration in lots of countries around the globe.
If you have any concerns over immigration then you will be able to talk to a New York Family Lawyer. A New York Family Lawyer will help your partner to apply for work and spouse visas much easier than trying to do everything yourself. The Office of Stephen Bilkis and Associates can offer you support and guidance as well as a free consultation when you contact us at 1-800-NY-NY-LAW. We have offices in New York City, including Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and The Bronx and in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Westchester County.