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Is Age Difference an Issue in an IR-1 Visa Application?
Transcript of the above video:
As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the IR-1 Visa and we are discussing age differences between the parties in a visa application for a visa of this type.
To preface this, unlike other videos I have done on this topic, for example a video on the K-1 Visa and the CR-1 Visa and the K-3 Visa, in an IR-1 context I think this issue is going to be even less of a concern for a given couple mostly because with respect to IR-1 visa benefits you are looking at a couple that has generally been married two years as of the time of entering the United States and obtaining the visa benefit. Generally speaking, most folks who are looking at the IR-1 often times are going to have been married at least 2 years when they are going ahead and filing for it and the reason I am making I bring this up is sham marriages are oftentimes a major issue with respect to adjudicating the given details of a given case. Age difference can be a factor but it is a factor that is only one component of a larger sort of mosaic when adjudicating these matters.
There is a policy memo from USCIS from some years ago which basically stipulates that it is not incumbent upon the adjudicating officers of these cases to determine whether or not a given marriage or a prospective marriage is a good idea. Instead it is simply incumbent on them to ascertain whether or not the couple is engaged in a lawfully contractual marriage, a binding marriage and whether or not it is bona fide. Do the parties really want to be married for the reasons of being married; they love each other and want to be married to one another. This is in marked contrast to so-called “marriages of convenience or sham marriages” which basically involve parties where they are not really wanting to be married. They are simply getting married in order to enjoy some sort of benefit, governmental or otherwise. In most cases involving sham marriages you are talking about marriages where the parties are engaged in a marriage in order to get a visa to the United States. Again in the IR-1 context, I don't think this is going to be quite rise to the same level of importance in a given case within a given adjudication because the couple presumably is going to have been married for a fairly prolonged period of time at the time they file for the immigration benefits.
So the thing to take away from this video, like the other ones I have done on this topic, is yes age difference can be a factor but it is only one of many factors that is going to be adjudicated by an Immigration Officer. However in an IR-1 context, I think where you have got a fairly long duration of marriage already pre-existing, that is pretty well going to mitigate away a lot of other concerns you have got with respect to the age difference. Anyway, for those who are concerned about this topic it is probably not a bad idea to go ahead and contact a legal professional, get a consultation, understand ones situation a little bit better and from there operate with a little bit more peace of mind when processing your immigrant visa case through USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Department of State.