A so-called “green card marriage” is when someone who is an immigrant marries someone who is a citizen. This allows the person who is not a citizen to get a green card. Doing this is the government’s way of helping to keep families together, as it would clearly not be ideal to deport one spouse or ask them to leave when their visa expired, while the other stayed.
However, people have sometimes tried to use this as a loophole. Two people who are merely friends may opt to legally get married, even though they’re not romantically involved or living together, so that the other person can stay. If this is suspected, the government will conduct an interview to decide if the marriage seems legitimate or not.
All interviews are different
First and foremost, the questions asked at an interview can be unique. Below, we’ll look at some options so that you can get a sense of the type of questions that may come up, but there is no guarantee. Just remember that the goal is to see if you and your spouse answer the same way. Examples include:
- How did you meet?
- What do you like to do on dates?
- Did you talk about marriage before one of you proposed?
- Who proposed and how did it happen?
- What is your spouse’s birthday? What did you do to celebrate last year?
- Where do you like to go out to eat?
- Who does most of the cooking and cleaning?
- What time do you get up?
- Did you have a reception after your wedding?
- Where did you go on your honeymoon?
- What are your nicknames for each other?
- Have you talked about having kids?
- What does your spouse do for work?
- What is your average income?
- Who tends to drive when you’re both in the car?
As you can see, many of the questions could be about the wedding process itself. Others, though, may just be about daily life. If you and your spouse both insist that you drive most of the time, that’s a red flag. In any case, be sure you know about all of your legal options.
