A caller named Tara asked the Immigration Answer Show whether a marriage she and her husband had just arranged would hold up for a future U.S. spouse petition. She is a 22-year-old citizen of Bangladesh; he is a 19-year-old U.S. citizen. They had never been married in the same place. Instead they bought a license and had an imam in Utah officiate while she was in Bangladesh and he was in the United States, an online proxy marriage. Jim Hacking’s reaction was immediate.
mic What the Attorney Says
“So I hate those Utah marriages.”
The reason is statutory. For immigration, a marriage where the two people were not physically in each other’s presence at the ceremony does not count as a marriage at all, unless it was consummated afterward. INA 101(a)(35) / 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(35) says the terms “spouse,” “wife,” and “husband” do not include anyone married by a ceremony where the parties were not physically present with each other, “unless the marriage shall have been consummated.” Utah’s remote-marriage process is why these show up so often, and an unconsummated proxy marriage cannot support an I-130 petition.
mic What the Attorney Says
“A proxy Utah marriage between a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old Muslim couple is going to be problematic in the future if you ever want to come to the United States and get a green card.”
Even where a proxy marriage could be salvaged, it invites the officer to pick at it. This couple had also spent only about two months in the same country.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Because you’re handing them something to beat you up over the head with on a silver platter. They would love to find a reason to find that marriage … invalid. Plus, these people have only spent two months together.”
The fix Hacking offered does not require unwinding anything. An unconsummated proxy marriage is treated as void for immigration, so the couple can simply marry again in person once they are together, and no divorce is needed.
mic What the Attorney Says
“I don’t think you have to get divorced. I think you just treat it as a … void marriage.”
The couple’s second problem is separate from the marriage. The husband had traveled quickly through several Muslim-majority countries, was detained over the pattern, and had Homeland Security visit his home. Hacking, who has sat in on FBI interviews of Muslim clients, warned that this record will follow any petition he files.
mic What the Attorney Says
“I’m saying as a Muslim lawyer who sat in on probably 50 FBI interviews with Muslims over the years, this fact pattern, they’re really not going to like … they’re going to do everything they can to keep you from getting a visa to the United States.”
The takeaway is the one Hacking repeated to a young couple in a hurry: a marriage that only exists on paper is a documented weakness, not a shortcut. The same lesson runs through a foreign power-of-attorney divorce that can wreck a marriage visa and through cases where a couple met once for a few days before marrying. Marry where both people are physically present, build a real shared record, and keep the proxy paperwork out of the file.