Why naturalization through marriage is popular in the U.S.
Explainer Video:
Marriage and Citizenship
Sitting at his desk printing out marriage documents, John Hogan, is getting ready to perform one of his many duties as Bergen County Clerk. Having already performed 10 marriages that day, Hogan, like on many Saturdays, will have to preform 10 more weddings. Hogan is about to conduct a wedding between Andres Cacrera and Irene Munoz. Munoz was born in the United States, but Cacrera was born in Columbia and is still looking to become a naturalized U.S citizen.
Hogan says that a quarter of the weddings he performs share a similar story. In fact, naturalization through marriage is a very popular way to gain citizenship in the United States.
“In the 2016 fiscal year, 304,358 spouses of U.S citizens ‘naturalized’ to become citizens.” According to the Department of Homeland Security.
That is 40.43% of the total immigrants naturalized in 2016. Being that almost half of those naturalized people gained their citizenship through marriage, many wonder why this particular method is so popular. Is it for love, or legal status?
Immigration lawyer Emily Bendana, who works at the Law Offices of Salvatore Bellomo, doesn’t believe immigrants get married for legal status.
“This big idea that you can marry to gain citizenship and that people do that is a myth,” Bendana said. “The entire process from start to finish is a minimum of 5 years… It would take a lot of time and a lot of energy, especially to be with somebody you wouldn’t want to be with.”
With the current political climate, some people would question the legitimacy of these marriages and the motivation behind them. President Donald Trump has been enforcing and adjusting immigration policies to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, which forces people to gain citizenship if they want to stay in the United States. However, immigrants like Maria Marco would be an example of Bendana’s thoughts on immigration and marriage.
“My husband was Cuban, but he was born here in America,” Marco said. “We didn’t do it for the papers, or nothing like that. We just got married because we fell in love.”
To become naturalized as a spouse of a U.S citizen “you must have a permanent resident (Green) Card for at least three years and have been living in marital union with the same U.S citizen spouse during such time.” According to uscis.gov.
Becoming married to a U.S citizen does not give automatic naturalization to a person seeking legal statues, but it does create a faster route to citizenship.
“We didn’t do it for the papers… We just got married because we fell in love,” Marco Said.
At the Hackensack Health Department, where couples can receive marriage certificates, some of the employees have dealt with fraudulent cases where people try to take advantage of the marital status naturalization process. In one case, a customer applied for a marriage license, but her spouses’ signature on the license was not his.
“Even though his signature was there, that wasn’t his signature. He never came to our office to apply for the marriage license,” Deputy registrar Marta Jovell said. “The lady told me that he’s trying to get married now to somebody else who can give him legal status in this country.”
Maria Tartaglione, another deputy registrar, notices particular details when dealing with a couple just trying to gain legal status for one of the partners.
“One example could be where one of the applicants is the U.S citizen, or was born in another country and became a U.S citizen and they have all the documentation, where the other person only has a passport,” Tartaglione said. “So that’s a way you could tell maybe this is for papers.”
Tartaglione, Jovell and the laws are put in place to try preventing people from taking advantage of the naturalization process, but there will always be some cases where people try to scam the system. Hogan has dealt with hundreds of people who marry for love, and who may have had an alternative reason for marrying, but he believes he can always sense when the marriage is truly for love.
“You can tell when it’s for real,” Hogan said. “If they come prepared like they’re coming for a wedding, they’re not coming with their street clothes on, they’ll look in to each other’s eyes there’s a number of (ways) you can tell.”
Photo Gallery:
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Bust of Bergen County Clerk John S. Hogan in Hogan’s office in Hackensack, NJ. Hogan has been the Bergen County Clerk since 2016 and keeps many of his mementos from his time as mayor of Northvale, NJ and photographs of key moments in his life. -Photo by Shane Reed and Danielle Weidner / Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Thought Love: Bergen County Clerk, John Hogan, sitting at his desk at his in Hackensack, NJ going through marriage papers. Before performing the wedding ceremony, Hogan must find the proper paperwork to give to his clients to legitimize the marriage. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Bergen County Clerk, John Hogan, handing marriage papers to Andres Cacrera (Noncitizen) and Irene Munoz (Citizen) a couple who have come to the Bergen County Clerk’s office to become married on March 9th 2019. The couple and their two trustees must sign documents, so the marriage can take place. John Hogan explains the paperwork and what the couple must sign. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Marriage for Citizenship: Irene Munoz signing her signature on one of the marriage documents in Bergen County Clerk’s office. Munoz and her partner Andres Cacrera sign their names on the document so their marriage can take place. -Photo by Shane Reed and Danielle Weidner / Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Andres Cacrera expressing excitement for his marriage in the Bergen County Clerk’s office. The ceremony is just moments away. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Irene Munoz and Andres Cacrera leaving Hogan’s office to become a married couple. Exiting the clerk’s office and entering a life of marriage and creating a pathway to citizenship for Mr. Cacrera. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Irene Munoz and Andres Cacrera standing in front of John Hogan who is conducting their wedding in the ceremony room. Munoz and Cacrera exchange their vows and listen to the directions given by Hogan. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Irene Munoz putting a wedding ring on Andres Cacrera’s finger in the wedding ceremony room. They both smile realizing their marriage is almost complete. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Mr. and Ms. Cacrera embracing as their marriage is announced official. Irene and Andres Cacrera are now a married and will have all the legal rights of a married couple, including the process of citizenship. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University 
Hackensack, NJ 03/09/19. Citizenship Through Love: Andres Cacrera Celebrating to his family, while his newly wedded wife, Irene Cacrera, holds on to his arm. Bergen County Clerk, John Hogan smiles, but still has more weddings to conduct that day. -Photo by Shane Reed/ Montclair State University
Work Cited:
https://www.dhs.gov/profiles-naturalized-citizens-2016-country
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