The Board of Immigration Appeals has determined that USCIS may deem a prior marriage to have been fraudulent, even when the I-130 filed based on that marriage was denied for failure to establish the bona fides (but not for marriage fraud). “The Summary of Findings describes significant discrepancies in the accounts given by the beneficiary and his first wife regarding (1) whether and for how long the couple lived at the claimed marital residence; (2) their places and type of employment (and whether they, in fact, worked at the same store owned by the beneficiary’s father); and (3) the former wife’s living arrangements in Salem and the reasons why the beneficiary paid rent for her apartment there. Additionally, the record contains documentation of contradictions that arose during the beneficiary’s two visa interviews regarding how, when, and where he met his first wife, as well as how their relationship progressed to marriage. The petitioner submitted no new documentary evidence showing a joint life between the beneficiary and his first wife, apart from affidavits from the petitioner, the beneficiary, and the pastor who conducted the beneficiary’s first wedding ceremony. Affidavits of this nature, alone, ‘will generally not be sufficient to overcome evidence of marriage fraud in the record without objective documentary evidence to corroborate the assertions made by the affiants.’”
The full text of Matter of Pak can be found here: