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A Jamaican committed marriage fraud about 30 years ago by marrying a US citizen in a marriage where the groom was paid a certain amount of money to marry her. The groom got in legal trouble for an unrelated matter, and the marriage fraud was discovered and the family friend was deported back to Jamaica. She no longer has any paperwork involved with the deportation and she can’t remember any of the details. I do not know if she simply agreed to return to Jamica when the fraud was discovered, or if she made any attempts to mount any type of legal defense in the case. I do know that she was cooperative with the immigration authorities and that they did not have to come looking for her. She would like to come the USA for a two-week visit. The main purpose of the visit is for her to visit a friend (US citizen) who is terminally ill.

I have been looking at 8 U.S.C. 1182 and from my reading of it, it would seem that she would not be admissible to the US because of the previous immigration fraud. My understanding is based on the section that says:

In general.-Any alien who, by fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact, seeks to procure (or has sought to procure or has procured) a visa, other documentation, or admission into the United States or other benefit provided under this Act is inadmissible.

What’s not clear to me is if this means that she would be inadmissible permanently or if this would be subject to the 10 year limit. Can anyone help provide some clarity on this? If the ban is not permanent are there any tips to being able to increase her chances of being able to get a visa. She intends to honestly answer all questions during her application process for a visa.

Itsme2003
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1 Answers1

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Yes, the ban for fraud or willful misrepresentation, in INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i), is a lifetime ban. Whenever the law says that someone is "inadmissible" without any other qualification, that means it is a lifetime ban (i.e. the person will still be inadmissible no matter how much time has passed). For the bans that last a fixed amount of time, the law says something like "an alien who ... who again seeks admission within X years of ... is inadmissible"; this means that it is an X-year ban (i.e. it only makes the person inadmissible for an attempt to seek entry within X years of the start of the ban).

Since she is under a ban, if she wants to go to the US, she will need a waiver. Since she is going as a nonimmigrant visitor, she will need a nonimmigrant waiver (under INA 212(d)(3)(A)). There is no separate form to apply for this. Rather, she will apply for a visitor visa as usual, and if it is denied solely due to a ban (and not due to failure to overcome "immigrant intent", which has no waiver), the consular officer adjudicating her visa will inform her of the steps to apply for a waiver, which will be decided by that same officer.

user102008
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