Beywatch: YOUNG TUNISIAN MEN ASK: "IS THE MARRIAGE VISA

UNCLAS TUNIS 000226

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG; HR/EL; CA/VO
DAMASCUS FOR RCO MARY ELLEN HICKEY

E.O. 12958: NA
TAGS: KFRD SOCI CVIS TS
SUBJECT: Beywatch: YOUNG TUNISIAN MEN ASK: "IS THE MARRIAGE VISA
STILL AVAILABLE?"


1. INTRODUCTION: This report is one of a series drafted by Post's
entry level officers which have the "Beywatch" caption. We believe
the perspectives offered in the following vignette will give the
reader a sense of everyday life in Tunisia. END INTRODUCTION.


2. SUMMARY: This cable is a look at some of the statistics related
to spousal immigration from Tunisia to the United States. The
picture these numbers form leads to several questions that may be
informative when taking a broader look at immigration fraud and
trends: What does it mean that 69 percent of women petitioning for
their new husbands at post met them over the internet? Or that out
of the one-third of all cases with a ten-year age gap between
beneficiary and petitioner, the older party is almost always the
female Amcit? Or that 40 percent of male petitioners at post are
previous beneficiaries of spousal immigration? Is our system being
abused? END SUMMARY.


3. During a recent speaking engagement at a Tunisian university,
Conoff was taken aback by a young Tunisian man who eagerly wanted to
know, during what was supposed to be a discussion about the student
visa process, whether the "marriage visa" was still a viable option
for immigration to the United States. While consular staff often
note stereotypical patterns in marriage cases seen at Embassy
Tunis-- older American women and younger Tunisian men, arranged
marriages, etc. -- Conoff decided to take a closer look at the
numbers. Although questionable relationships are routine in
immigration work, the following provides a glimpse of Embassy Tunis'
experiences.

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OLDER AMCITS AND THEIR HOT NEW HUSBANDS
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4. This is one of the most repeated stories played out in front of
the interviewing windows at Embassy Tunis: the older American woman
looking for love on the internet, and finding it with a young
Tunisian male who happened to seek the same thing using Yahoo or
Skype. Although sometimes the couple doesn't share a common
language (as was the case with the American woman who spoke no
French but happened to wander into and fall in love on a French
language chat room,) relationships often blossom quickly, resulting
in a Tunisian marriage just months after online courtship, and
usually only a few days after the petitioner's arrival in country.



5. In fact, of all CR-1 cases (Conditional Relative cases involving
couples that have been married for less than two years,) interviewed
in 2006, 69 percent of female petitioners met their husbands on the
internet. Of all the immigration petitions filed at post during the
same period, 38 percent were internet couplings, and every one of
these petitions was filed by a woman born and raised in the United
States. While the fact that 31 percent of couples filing petitions
at post in 2006 had a 10 year or more age gap is not that
astounding, the fact that over 98 percent of those age-gap couples
were between older American women and their Tunisian husbands is a
little bit surprising. (COMMENT: Post also receives petitions from
Amcits marrying young Algerian men too, as many of the women are
reluctant to travel to Algeria and so agree to meet and marry in
Tunisia. END COMMENT.)


6. A large percentage of these Amcit women have never traveled
outside of the United States before their trip to marry their
husbands, and they usually don't stay very long after the wedding.
They almost always arrive without family or friends, but are thrown
large parties by their new husbands' families, who are quite happy
to have the event photographed and videotaped for posterity-- and
the visa interview. The young male beneficiaries are undeterred by
the frequent realities of several ex-husbands, stepchildren their
own age, or uncertainties about what their new wives do for a
living.

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LADIES IN WAITING
--------------


7. When it comes to male petitioners, there is generally less doubt
as to the validity of their marriages. Although marriages between
cousins who barely know each other or between two people brought
together by family interests are common in Tunisia, these couples
are typically able to easily prove that they married for reasons
other than immigration. What is perhaps most interesting about
these couples is that about 40 percent of males petitioning for
wives at Embassy Tunis got their citizenship by traveling illegally
to the United States and then marrying an American. Very often, the
ink is barely dry on their naturalization certificates when their
American wives are served with divorce papers and they introduce

Conoffs at Embassy Tunis to their new North African spouses. This
statistic holds true for CR-1 interviewees as well; over 38 percent
of female CR-1 applicants tell us that their husbands got their
American citizenship from prior marriages to Americans. Of course,
there are many possible explanations for this phenomenon. Perhaps
these men did not just use their American wives for citizenship
purposes. Perhaps they are driven to seek wives from their own
countries after they became disillusioned with marriages so far
removed from the culture in which they grew up. Perhaps not. In any
case, these second marriages raise few eyebrows and usually appear
legitimate.

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BIG BROTHER WATCHING OVER YOU
--------------


8. Of the 69 percent of male CR-1 applicants who met their wives
over the internet, 31 percent had brothers who had traveled
illegally to the United States some years before and had a hand in
introducing the couple via chat room. (It is also common for
couples to conduct relationships over the phone, with the now-legal
brother in the U.S. setting up the communication.) In a recent
case, the female petitioner was an employee of the immigrant
brother. In another, the petitioner admitted that her brother-in-law
had filled out all the documentation for the I-130 petition, even
putting his own phone number on the application where hers should
have been.

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AFTERMATH/GIMME SHELTER
--------------


9. Embassy Tunis' Consular Section has received a surprising number
of inquiries from American women wanting the Section's help
determining if their husbands are married in Tunisia as well as in
tQ U.S., or asking what can be done when they realize they may have
been used by their husbands to gain residency or citizenship. (Post
has been working with USCIS officials recently on a case involving a
Tunisian who recently married an Amcit, and then returned to Tunisia
a year later to marry a Tunisian. The bigamist is currently
attempting to naturalize, but a timely call from the pregnant Amcit
who discovered her husband's two-timing may allow Conoffs and DHS
officials to prevent his surreptitious maneuvering.) However, hope
springs eternal: One American woman who had discovered her first
husband had only married her for a Green Card, promptly divorced him
and reappeared at the ACS window at Embassy Tunis with a new
Tunisian husband, this time certain she'd found her soul mate.

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"CONSULAR" NOT "COUNSELOR"
--------------


10. Perhaps one of the more difficult realities for Conoffs to face
is that when the Amcit in the relationship is convinced that she is
marrying for love, there is little one can do to combat the high
numbers of young Tunisian, Libyan and Algerian males on the prowl
via internet. That the stats show that these Romeos will only
divorce them for their high school sweethearts once they have a blue
passport in hand is immaterial on a case-by-case basis. And while
resources like LexisNexis and the Consular Consolidated Database are
wonderful in unearthing large-scale fraud rings, if money is
changing hands between the petitioner and the beneficiary's
brother-- as is sometimes probable-- it is still impossible for
Conoffs to tell gullible Amcits that their sweethearts are likely to
be heartbreakers.

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WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT?
--------------


11. In the last two years Embassy Tunis returned about twenty
spousal or fianc petitions to DHS with a recommendation for
revocation due to suspected fraud. (COMMENT: Because of the long
processing time for these reviews, there are no statistics regarding
how often United States Citizenship and Immigration Services upheld
Post's recommendation. Due to stringent standards on what is
legally defined as proof of a sham marriage, often the glaring
inconsistencies exposed in interviews are not enough to convince DHS
officers to support conclusions drawn in the field. END COMMENT.)
Tunis Conoffs pride themselves on careful interviewing and in-depth
revocation memos, and set a high standard for what qualifies as
proof of a relationship. That being said, Conoffs are eager to
smooth the process for legitimate couples (no matter the age gap or
cultural differences) and to prevent others from corrupting the
system. Embassy Tunis' Consular Section also enjoys excellent
relations with the ICE liaison officer and counterparts back in

CA/VO, who help uphold a zero-tolerance policy concerning
immigration fraud.

GODEC