Responding to a USCIS Marriage Fraud Notice After Adjustment of Status

Attorney Answer

Your divorce decree does not answer the question USCIS is asking, and if your ex-wife previously signed a statement that the marriage was entered into for immigration purposes, that document — not the divorce — is what is driving this notice. A later affidavit saying the opposite is the weakest way to fight it.

The governing bar. INA § 204(c), 8 U.S.C. § 1154(c), provides that "no petition shall be approved if (1) the alien has previously been accorded, or has sought to be accorded, an immediate relative or preference status as the spouse of a citizen of the United States or the spouse of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, by reason of a marriage determined by the Attorney General to have been entered into for the purpose of evading the immigration laws, or (2) the Attorney General has determined that the alien has attempted or conspired to enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading the immigration laws." Two features of that text matter to you. First, the bar attaches to the earlier marriage determination, so it reaches your current petition even though a different U.S. citizen filed it. Second, it does not expire, and ending the earlier marriage does not lift it.

The standard, and a warning. In Matter of P. Singh, 27 I&N Dec. 598 (BIA 2019), the Board held that the standard of proof for barring a petition under § 204(c) is "substantial and probative evidence" — more than a preponderance of the evidence but less than clear and convincing evidence, meaning the record must show it is more than probably true that the marriage was fraudulent. The evidence is weighed in its totality for nature, quality, quantity and credibility, direct or circumstantial, and circumstantial evidence alone can be enough.

Read the outcome, not just the standard. The appeal in P. Singh was dismissed and the § 204(c) bar was upheld. The beneficiary's wife later signed an affidavit recanting her admission that the marriage was fraudulent, and that affidavit did not overcome the government's evidence. This is not a case you can lean on. It is the bar you have to clear, and an example of a recanting affidavit failing to clear it.

What you can do

1. Get the notice in front of an immigration lawyer this week, with the response date circled. This is not a form you should answer alone. 2. File a FOIA request for your A-file so you can see the actual evidence — the signed statement, the interview notes, any site-visit report. Responding without knowing what USCIS has is guessing. 3. Answer the evidence, not the conclusion. What moves a § 204(c) case is contemporaneous proof the earlier marriage was real while it existed: joint leases and mortgages, joint accounts with real activity, tax returns, insurance beneficiary designations, photographs spread across the years, messages, and affidavits from people who knew you as a couple day to day. 4. Be very careful with a new affidavit from your ex-wife. If she previously signed a statement admitting the marriage was for immigration purposes, a new one contradicting it invites the adjudicator to discount both. If she genuinely recants, the affidavit has to explain in detail why the earlier statement was untrue and the circumstances in which it was signed. 5. Ask counsel now — not after a denial — about what happens next: the appeal route, whether a new petition can ever be approved with the bar in place, and your exposure to removal proceedings if the case is denied.

⏱ Time limits apply. The Notice of Intent to Revoke or Deny states its own response deadline on its face, and it is short. If the deadline passes, the decision issues on the record as it stands. The date printed on your notice controls — read it today and calendar it.