Given the heightened anxiety surrounding immigration enforcement by the current administration, many immigrants and their family members are more inclined to trust misinformation disseminated through the “news” and social media, and be sold a story of false hope about qualifying for VAWA or other immigration benefits.
One common scam that is being sold to unsuspecting immigrant families is VAWA. VAWA is a legitimate process that seeks to provide protection for spouses, parents and/or children who were subject to extreme cruelty at the hands of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident spouse, parent or child.
Although extreme cruelty is not defined in the law, this kind of mistreatment can involve psychological or sexual abuse, threats of violence, and economic control, or at the very least emotional abuse that is more egregious than simply having a domestic disagreement or argument that is typical of all familial relationships.
Some of the major advantages of VAWA, which make it ripe with fraud, are that (1) VAWA does not require a police report; (2) VAWA does not require evidence of physical abuse; (3) VAWA does not have a statutory limited number of VAWA petitions that can be approved, like the U Visa, so any number of VAWA petitions can be filed and approved every year; and, (4) VAWA approval allows someone to apply for adjustment of status, which means the VAWA applicant can become a legal permanent resident without having to leave the U.S.
Some of the disadvantages of VAWA that may result in being ineligible for VAWA or result in the denial of a VAWA application are (1) VAWA can only waive immigration bars or grounds of inadmissibility if they are connected with the extreme cruelty suffered by the VAWA Applicant; (2) if the abuse is based on a former marriage to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident spouse, the VAWA petition must be filed within two years of the divorce and before the VAWA applicant remarries; and, (3) the VAWA adjustment must also be approved before the VAWA Applicant remarries.
REMEMBER, although VAWA may avoid some grounds of inadmissibility such as illegal entry, working without authorization etc., other grounds of inadmissibility such as the 10-year permanent bar, alien smuggling, false claim to U.S. citizenship etc. are ONLY waivable if they are related to the extreme cruelty suffered by the VAWA Applicant. Thus, any grounds of inadmissibility that accrued before the VAWA Applicant suffered extreme cruelty at the hands of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident spouse, parent or child, are generally NOT WAIVEABLE through VAWA.
VAWA SCAM 1: For example, Michael Stevens entered the U.S. illegally in 2001 and later left the U.S. in 2010 to visit his family, and then again enters the U.S. illegally in 2011. Michael later meets his U.S. citizen wife in 2014, they get married in 2015, and have two (2) children together. In 2019, Michael’s wife physically assaults him and throws him out of the house after Michael confronts her about having an extramarital affair. Michael’s wife says she’s going to take the children away and report him to immigration so he gets deported if Michael doesn’t pay her $10,000 and give her a monthly payment of $2,000. Although we could conclude that Michael was the victim of extreme cruelty, Michael triggered the 10-year permanent bar in 2011 prior to ever meeting his U.S. citizen spouse, thus, Michael would not be eligible for a VAWA waiver since the 10-year permanent bar is not connected with any abuse he suffered as that abuse occurred many years later.
Here’s the SCAM. Michael is advised by a “VAWA advocate” to NOT mention that he left the U.S. in 2010 and reentered illegally in 2011 to commit fraud to try to avoid having the 10-year permanent bar applied by USCIS in his case. The “VAWA advocate” will explain that s/he can help Michael get a work permit in 3-6 months and become a legal permanent resident in 2-3 years. Although USCIS will accept the VAWA Petition (I-360), the adjustment application (I-485), and the work permit application (I-765), and likely approve a work permit in a few months, once USCIS conducts its own investigation and discovers evidence that Michael was in the U.S. for more than one year prior to 2010 and left the U.S. in 2010/2011, and evidently returned before being abroad for ten years since he got married in the U.S. in 2015, USCIS will deny the VAWA petition, the adjustment of status and revoke the work permit in 2-3 years. However, before USCIS denies the VAWA application, Michael is going to be very happy with the work permit that will allow him to get a legitimate social security number and driver’s license. Meanwhile, Michael will likely have paid the “VAWA advocate” thousands of dollars and later be told a sob story that his case was denied because of Trump or make up some other lie.
VAWA SCAM 2: For example, Michael and his wife from above go to talk to an “immigration advocate” who is rumored to help immigrant get a green card. In this case, Michael and his wife are happily married and have had no marital disputes other than the normal stresses of living a married life and raising two children. The immigration advocate begins to ask Michael about whether his wife drinks alcohol, yells at him, insults him etc. The immigration advocate begins to prepare a false statement that explains Michael has been the victim of extreme cruelty at the hands of his U.S. citizen wife. Upon further review, Michael and his wife begin to suspect that the immigration advocate is lying about Michael’s wife, because Michael is happily married, loves his wife and was never mistreated by his wife. Although the immigration advocate may do a good job at committing immigration fraud and succeed in getting Michael a work permit, since Michael is subject to the ten-year permanent bar, Michael’s case will be denied and may be referred to immigration court for removal/deportation proceedings. Once, Michael goes to immigration court, he applies for cancellation of removal because now he needs to prove that his wife and children will suffer exceptional and unusual hardship if Michale is removed/deported. Now the court could see that Michael lied about the abuse he suffered and could find that his testimony is no longer credible because it may appear that he will say anything to qualify for an immigration benefit and worse yet, may be found to have committed fraud in applying for an immigration benefit which not only carries civil penalties but could also be charged criminally. Thus, Michael could end up in a worse situation by being misled to apply for VAWA.
NOW THAT TRUMP is president again, some immigration advocates will blame Trump for cases getting denied, but the truth will likely be that the immigrant was not eligible and would have been denied even if the president was a democrat. Given the heightened anxiety due to the more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws under the current administration, scammers will likely try to take advantage of the situation and sell immigrants and their families false hope or blame Trump when cases get denied. If it sounds too good to be true, then you should probably get a second or third opinion from an experienced and reputable immigration attorney as this could save you thousands of dollars and/or avoid family separation.
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