Immigration laws have been a hot topic not only here in New Jersey but throughout the United States over the past year. Of particular legislative debate has been how do deal with visas of foreign born individuals who marry U.S. residents.

One recent story highlights a couple who married last year. She is an American citizen and he, a Jamaican national. They are both culturally and generationally different. The woman is 15-years-older than her husband, Caucasian and Jewish. Her husband is black and Christian. Their marriage is a melting pot of rich diversity.

A U.S. visa was approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services a few months after their marriage in Jamaica in early 2010. However, Jamaican U.S. Embassy officials interrupted the process that would have allowed the husband to move to America by declaring the marriage fraudulent.

Suspicions about the couple rose with embassy authorities following an interview with the married pair. A review of the couple's relationship history, including correspondence, photos and phone records, convinced embassy representatives that the marriage was likely a sham.

The couple met in July 2009, when the woman was on vacation in Jamaica. A proposal of marriage was made and accepted by phone in November and the couple got married in Jamaica in January; after which the woman returned to her job in the United States. One year later, when the couple was interviewed together in Jamaica at the U.S. embassy, the new wife was halfway through a pregnancy.

The wife, who returned to the U.S., was approaching the end of her pregnancy. She decided to contact a local congressman for help to track the visa's status. Embassy officials informed the politician that the application was being questioned.

Authorities suspected the marriage was based on immigration reasons and passed the case onto U.S. officials. The Jamaican husband has not been allowed to join his wife in America and has never met his 6-month-old son. A review of the couple's application could take an additional two years.

As many as 20,000 to 40,000 spousal visa applications are denied each year for numerous reasons. Applications for approximately 300,000 spousal visas are received annually by USCIS officials.

Source: The SFGate, "U.S. Embassy's suspicions keep couple apart," Paloma Esquivel, Dec. 15, 2011