Immigrating to the US can be a long process and many immigrants find that they will not ever be eligible for citizenship, unless they have family or a spouse who is an American citizen.
Federal authorities revealed an elaborate immigration fraud scheme in Sacramento, California. According to the Sacramento Bee, Sergey Potepalov, 55, was arrested as the ring-leader of the people involved in the scheme, which helped people from Russia and Eastern Europe gain US citizenship. Most people hire immigration attorneys to help them become American citizens.
This isn’t a new scam, but this was a large-scale effort to defraud the US immigration services.
US Attorney General Benjamin Wagner stated that foreign nationals paid American citizens up to five figures to enter into false nuptials to become naturalized citizens. Immigrants can get lawful residency in the US by applying for fiancé visas or gain entry by being the spouse of a citizen.
Defrauding the government to get citizenship has serious consequences. Hopeful immigrants are encouraged to employ an immigration lawyer to gain lawful entry through visas or asylum.
The people involved in the scheme went as far as taking wedding photos, rehearsing answers to immigration officials, and establishing leases in their spouses’ name to make the marriages seem official.
Fraudulently gaining entry into the US will result in deportation along with criminal charges. Though it is tempting to try to take a fast track to citizenship, the best chances of remaining in the US is through legal means, and an immigration attorney can make this a reality for some people.
