USCIS trains its officers to look for several indicators or "red flags" that may indicate fraud in the various types of immigration and visa cases.
General Behavioral Fraud Indicators
- extreme nervousness
- over-interaction
- lack of knowledge about basic questions
- late for interview
- answers prompted by attorney or other
- lack of interest or interaction
- lack of eye contact
- evasive or overly general answers
- answers interrupted by attorney or other
- attorney attempted to distract or mislead
Other General Fraud Indicators
- documents issued immediately before interview
- documents issued immediately after interview
- over-submissions
- proactive, explicit, or staged photographs
- suspect tax flings or financial transactions
- multiple applications or petitions by a single applicant or petitioner
- common preparer (known or suspected by USCIS to have previously engaged in fraud)
- preparer, notary, etc., are all the same person
- tip letter or phone call
- suspect documents
- photographic evidence suggests imposter
- biometric discrepancies
- denied for abandonment or withdrawal after request for evidence issued
- suspicious filing history of beneficiary or applicant
I-130 Family-Based Petition Fraud Indicators
- short time between entry and marriage
- unusual marriage history
- children born during marriage to other parent
- unusual number of children and large discrepancy in age
- unusual dates on submitted documents
- divorce and new marriage close in time
- unusual associations between family members
- unusual cultural differences
- low employment/financial status of petitioner
- prepare, notary, and minister are all the same person
- same employer of petitioner and beneficiary
- previous marriages to foreign nationals
- unusual or large age discrepancy between spouses (when found in conjunction with other indicators)
I-140 and I-129 Employment Based Fraud Indicators
- unknown or unusual addresses or email addresses
- skill, age, salar, or education does not match job requirements
- no record of correspondence with parent company
- zoning inconsistent wiht business
- unusual data in quarterly reports
- labor certification right before sunset of 245I (April 30, 2001)
- multiple filings by petitioner is inconsistent with company size
- location on ETA-750A or ETA-9035 differs from place of employment
- no record of providing goods or services
- boilerplate documents that are in more than one petition
I-360 Religious Worker Fraud Indicators
- skill, age, education, and/or religious training does not match job requirements
- concregation size does not match number of employees
- zoning inconsistent with organization
- preceding two years of tax document list different position than petitioned for
- service conducted at non-religious properties
I-539 Student Visa Fraud Indicators
- unusual financial support or bank statements
- age is not commensurate with education sought
- affidavit of support identifies benefactor as friend rather than relative
- biolierplate justification to change to F1
- benefactor's income ppears insufficient to cover expenses
- B1/B2 visitor applying for extension with insufficient evidence or motive
- educationa request doesn't coorelate with beneficiary's employment background
I-589 and I-730 Asylum Fraud Indicators
- similar claims or documents on multiple applications
- unusual travel outside US
- conflicting information from different application or petitons
- unusual or excessive length of stay in US
- return to country they claim to fear
- common addresses on different applications
- children that are not on I-589 but later claimed on I-730
I-90, I-131, I-765 Fraud Indicators
- multiple filings
- name does not match what is in DHS system
- photographic evidence suggests imposter
- claims of eligibility based on suspicious asylum claims
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact us at tel.: 410-719-1501.