婚姻綠卡

Yen-Yi Anderson, Managing Partner of Anderson & Associates, founded the law firm in January 2014. Yen-Yi Anderson focuses her practice on excellence in business immigration, commercial law, and civil litigation.

Wei-An Wang is a Law Clerk at Anderson & Associates and a contributing author for the Anderson & Associates blog.

終於走到結婚這一步,但對於接下來的綠卡申請,可別因為一時疏忽了細節而被判定為綠卡詐騙。本篇文章整理出有助於您申請婚姻綠卡的證明材料,讓您能早一步為申請婚姻綠卡做準備。

首先,你知道在移民局審閱你的婚姻綠卡申請案時,哪些情況會亮起綠卡詐騙紅燈嗎?

 雙方年齡差距過大
 雙方語言隔閡過大,沒有共通語言
 文化差異過大
 申請者的家人或朋友完全不知道這段婚姻的存在
 這場婚姻是由中間人介紹安排的
 結婚的時間點是緊接在申請人得知自己必須離境之後
 面試時發現雙方對於身為一對情侶應該要有共識的事情一問三不知
 婚後沒有同居

此外,對於同性婚姻來說,許多同性伴侶可能基於隱私或安全考量,並沒有告知親朋好友這段關係,更容易導致觸發上述的綠卡詐騙警訊。

所以說究竟哪些類型的證據有助於說服移民局該伴侶的結婚意圖呢?

觀察美國移民局上訴委員會(The board of Immigration Appeals)的裁決,例如伴侶間在下列文件中將雙方列為夫妻:保險、不動產租賃契約、所得稅表格,或銀行帳戶,都有助於審查。另外伴侶必須能提出他們戀愛的證據、婚禮的證據、共同居住或共同生活的證據等。

但法院也指出,若移民局意圖特定某些類型的生活模式,例如規定伴侶戀愛關係必須超過一定的時間,或規定伴侶間的相處方式來做為審查標準,這將會引發憲法層級的爭議 。See Bark v. INS, 511 F.2d 1200 (1975).

看到這裡,您可能還是不清楚究竟哪些證據,以及證據的證明程度,足以說服移民局?我們幫您整理出了下列要素:

同居關係

移民局官員首先會觀察的是伴侶間是否有共同租約或共有房產來證明他們的同居關係。若伴侶間沒有這些傳統的證據,則將需要其他的輔助證據,例如兩人在銀行帳單、保險帳單等正式的文件中是使用相同的郵寄地址。
此外,若能提供朋友、鄰居、大樓管理員的證詞來證明同居關係,也是非常有幫助的。
最後,在面試時申請人必須有心理準備移民局官員可能會提出下列問題:

  • 請描述你家的擺設,一共有幾間房間?
  • 請描述你家的街區及路口的名稱。
  • 你今天是走什麼路線過來移民局面試的。

當然,並不是每一對伴侶都會同居,這時你可能將被要求提出沒有同居的理由,例如工作、學業或家庭上的考量。同時移民居官員可能會問及你們將來是否有同居的計畫。

共同財務規劃

共同帳戶也是一項有利的證明。若沒有共同帳戶,其他可證明伴侶間財務相互扶持的證據也很重要,例如共同汽車保險、電信家庭方案,或健康保險中將另一半列為夫或妻而共同享受保險。

婚禮

通常假結婚真詐騙的情況,雙方並不會舉辦盛大的婚禮。所以如果你能提出婚禮開支、婚禮照片證明你們真的有舉辦規模不小的婚禮儀式,移民局官員也會買帳。
當然不是每對伴侶都嚮往盛大的結婚儀式,這時您至少必須提出您有舉辦一定的儀式,例如在市政廳前與前來祝賀的親朋好友的合照。儘管只是在一個小餐廳的慶祝儀式,若有照片能證明該儀式的存在也行。移民局官員常問的問題包含「誰參與了你們的婚禮?」若你的家人沒能參加,請您要準備好一個適當的理由。同性伴侶這時可以舉出基於宗教立場不同或傳統文化價值理念不合為理由解釋為何父母家人沒有參加婚禮。

共同活動

申請人也可以提出伴侶間有共同參與活動的證據,例如共同出遊、加入同一間健身房,或參與共同課程。

最後,若剛好你們既不愛拍合照、沒有共同帳戶、平時也不喜歡一起活動,則至少提出家人或朋友的證詞用以證明這段戀情的存在。

在準備這些證據時,有律師的幫助及審查將會減少您準備的時間,並大幅降低您被認定為假結婚的機率。

了解更多您的權益,請持續關注本專欄,或連繫我們

Private foundation and public charity

Yen-Yi Anderson focuses her practice on excellence in business immigration, commercial law, and civil litigation.

Jim Shih-Chun Hou is an Associate at Anderson & Associates and a contributing author for the Anderson & Associates blog.

You may have heard these two terms from time to time in the context of nonprofit discussion. What are they? How do they work? And how to set up each one of them?

By default, a 501(c)(3) organization will be a private foundation at the very beginning. Generally, a private foundation is funded by one individual or company. For example, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the U.S., was founded by Bill Gates and Melinda Gates. Its endowment was $50.7 billion in 2017. A private foundation usually makes grants to other charities from its endowment instead of directly organizing and executing charitable activities.

On the contrary, the financial resource of a public charity is mainly coming from the general public on a regular basis. It heavily relies on donations or grants to operate and achieve its goals. IRS sets out the “33 1/3 percent support test” or the “10 percent facts and circumstances test” to determine if a 501(c)(3) organization can qualify as a public charity. More specifically, at least 1/3 of donations must be given by donors who give less than 2% of the entire organization’s receipts for the past 5 years.

For instance, Anderson Charity has the vision to provide legal aid and education with residents in lower Manhattan. It has been conducting fundraising and receiving donations from a variety of groups and people. As of today, Anderson Charity has received $10,000, which can be broken down as follows:

-$3,582 from the sale of ticket of legal drama show. There were 18 people who purchased the ticket priced at $199.

-$6,418 from 3 different individuals who are previous clients cheering Anderson’s mission.

Set aside few exceptions, Anderson Charity can therefore meet and maintain its public charity status.

In short, the most important differences between private foundation and public charity are 1) financial source- from single source or the general public and 2) activities- making grant or executing plan. Some facets are ignored for the purpose of simplicity. Consult your lawyers to learn more details before making strides.

To know more about your rights, please stay tuned or Contact Us.