History Main / CitizenshipMarriage

* ''Series/PrisonBreak'': [[http://prisonbreak.wikia.com/wiki/Nika_Volek Nika Volek]] marries Michael to get her green card. This example is more realistic than other instances since Michael could have easily found a loophole in the law. If Michael could find the human traffickers who brought her into UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates and break out of prison; then fooling the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service INS]] would be easy. [[spoiler:This turns out rather badly, as Nina falls in love with Michael for real, while he is in love with Sara Tancredi and never sees his relationship with Nina as anything other than one of convenience. The hurt she feels over this ultimately leads her to betray him.]]

* ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'': After the Thing passes a law that limits dragon training to members of the Allied Clans, there's an explosion of new marriages and concubinages, since those are ways to join a clan.

* This is basically the reason [[Series/StargateAtlantis John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir]] married in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5253934/1/Before-and-After Before and After]]". Her torture while she was being held by the Replicators left her with serious mental problems and she spends most of her time catatonic, but since she is only truly lucid in Atlantis, other members of the expedition proposed that if she was married to John the current plans to make the city a true colony would basically force the IOA to let her stay so that her former colleagues can work on treating her condition. When circumstances send John and Elizabeth travelling back through their lives and they arrive at this moment, Elizabeth- her mind restored by the time travel- is struck by the notion that John is doing all this for her without ever knowing for sure if she loved him in return, and takes the opportunity to make it clear that she genuinely wants to marry him despite the current circumstances.

* In ''Fanfic/AlwaysYou'', Abby proposes to Strange after discussing how getting married would allow her to get an American visa and allow the two of them (and Thursday the Long Furby) to have a life together.

* Subverted by ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. When Robin learns her work visa is about to expire, the gang frantically try to come up with ways to keep her in the USA and this is one the first things they think of. Barney, who's secretly in love with Robin, drops to one knee about to propose when Marshall [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome realizes]] that there isn't enough time to process the paperwork on a marriage before the visa expires at the end of the week.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

** A subplot of an episode in which the victim of the week was a Tibetan immigrant. The detectives suspect her husband, as he's vague about his alibi and when credit card records indicate that she had lunch with another man the day she was killed, they suspect her presumed lover as well. As it turns out, the detectives are wrong on all counts. The man was the ''husband's'' lover--the marriage was a sham in order to help her escape the horrific circumstances in her country. He'd lied about his whereabouts to cover up the fraud. The victim and the husband's partner were both aware of the whole situation and had lunch together to bury the hatchet.

* ''Serie/sMo2022'': Mo's friend Hameed marries an American woman primarily to gain a green card. He pointedly does so in a cowboy suit and extols her bottle-blonde hair.

* In ''Film/IceHouse'' (1989), one character, a Greek immigrant, needs to marry Kay to become a permanent resident. Things get complicated when an old boyfriend also wants to marry Kay.

* French comedy ''Épouse-moi mon pote''[[labelnote:Translation]]''Marry me, my dude''[[/labelnote]] (2017) is about a Moroccan student studying in France, who becomes an illegal immigrant due to a streak of bad luck, and marries his (male) best friend in order to get French citizenship (both are heterosexual). HilarityEnsues.[[note]]In France, same-sex marriage is legal since 2013[[/note]]

* Background plot to the Czech dramedy ''Film/{{Kolya}}'' (1995), [[UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag set in the final year of communist Czechoslovakia]]. A curmudgeonly old loner who works as a freelance viola player for a living agrees to marry a young Russian gal just so she could get temporary Czech citizenship and more easily emigrate to Western Europe later on. (In return, the old bachelor can buy himself a Trabant.) Within barely a few weeks, the mock-bride runs off abroad but has to leave her eponymous 5-year-old son Kolya in the care of her fake Czech husband. HilarityEnsues.

* Played with in ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' when Oleg loses his papers and is afraid Sophie thinks he only wants to marry her for his green card. HilarityEnsues.

* In ''Series/TheWayansBros'', Shawn marries an attractive African woman so she can get citizenship. The twist is that they have to convince the immigration official that they're actually in love, which they do by bickering LikeAnOldMarriedCouple. HilarityEnsues.

* Averted in Nadine Gordimer's ''The Pickup''. Julie asks if marrying her boyfriend, an illegal immigrant who goes by the name of Abdu would help him stay in her country, and is told that it will not because the officials will recognize the ulterior motive behind such a marriage. Later inverted when Julie insists on going with Abdu to his home country and he relents with the condition that they marry so that he can present her to his family as a proper wife, not a freeloader.

[[folder:Film]]

* This is basically the reason [[Series/StargateAtlantis John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir]] married in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5253934/1/Before-and-After Before and After]]". Her torture while she was being held by the Replicators left her with serious mental problems and she spends most of her time catatonic, but since she is only truly lucid in Atlantis, other members of the expedition proposed that if she was married to John the current plans to make the city a true colony would basically force the IOA to let her stay so that her former colleagues can work on treating her condition. When circumstances send John and Elizabeth travelling back through their lives and they arrive at this moment, Elizabeth- her mind restored by the time-travel- is struck by the notion that John is doing all this for her without ever knowing for sure if she loved him in return, and takes the opportunity to make it clear that she genuinely wants to marry him despite the current circumstances.

* Subverted in the climax of the film ''Film/BagdadCafe'' (''Out Of Rosenheim''): the main character, a tourist willing to stay in the country she's visiting, is about to be kicked off the country. One of her friends then runs to her, proposing her to marry him so she can stay. The trick here is that's actually a completely romantic wedding since they had been flirting a lot before that but were actually too shy to admit their feelings. So immigration laws actually made their love story possible.

* Jack (native Australian) and Juliet (immigrant to Australia from Canada) in the ''Literature/{{Newsflesh}}'' novella ''How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea''. This is apparently a common practice in their world since Australians are noted for their survival skills and a rather more level-headed approach to zombie-outbreak safety than in most of the world. Another Aussie character, Hotaru (apparently with some Japanese ancestry) comments that it's common for people to assume she's looking for a native to marry, until they hear her speak, when she's then asked if she's in the market for a spouse. (She isn't since she already has a husband and a wife.)

* The reality show ''Series/NinetyDayFiance'' deals with this often, being about people marrying foreigners. It's a common assumption that they're in it for the green card. Usually, there are some couples that are very obviously this trope, with attractive men/women marrying less-attractive or significantly older people.
* ''Series/AllMyChildren'': Brian marries An Li so that she won't be sent back to China. The fact that she was a student who could have gotten a visa, as well as employed by people who could have sponsored her somehow escaped both of their notice. But possible not An Li's, as she was of course, madly in love with Brian and hoping that he would reciprocate, even trying to pull TheBabyTrap in order to hang onto him.

* Jamie Reagan's plot in the ''Series/BlueBloods'' episode "Exiles" has him and his partner encounter a Polish-American girl trying to overcome a ParentalMarriageVeto from her father so she can marry her Syrian boyfriend. At the end of the episode it turns out to be this trope: the boyfriend is actually gay and his life would be in danger if he returns home after his student visa expires (pictures of him partying with other men turned up on Facebook), so he's marrying his platonic friend to get around ICE. ([[FridgeLogic No explanation is given for why he didn't try applying for refugee status]]: besides his being gay, the Syrian Civil War was well underway at the episode's airdate.)

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe married a gay ice-dancer so he could stay in the country. He shows to ask her for a divorce so he can get remarried for real to [[ComingStraightStory another woman.]]

* ''Series/HardyBucks'' does this, when The Boo agrees to marry Koffi so that he can stay in Ireland. The Guarda is looking for evidence to stop the wedding since he does not believe that either men are gay, and pulls a SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interruption, with evidence of both men's straight pornography. This leads to a SugarWiki/{{HeartwarmingMoment|s}} when Eddie leads the rest of the people in attendance to protest, and continue the wedding, not caring their orientation.
* ''Series/{{House}}'' does this in season 7 with an eastern European woman as part of his downward spiral caused by [[spoiler:Cuddy breaking up with him]]. The woman seems to actually like him, however, he lost interest in her and she left after the wedding. She came back when immigration came looking for her, and because of his newly-acquired criminal record, House had to play along instead of throwing her under the bus (and admit his original complicity). The "couple" seek help from serial monogamist Wilson, who disapproves but hates the idea of House going to jail even more. It almost works, but Wilson goes overboard, tries to impersonate a neighbor to give a sterling reference, and is caught. The two are forced to cohabit for real under the threat of deportation for her and prison for him. House kinda sorta falls in love with her or at least appreciates the domestic services she provides enough that when the notice comes that her permanent residency has been approved he throws it away before she can see it. [[spoiler: She discovers this eventually. She's not pleased, and while the show had been teasing that she might be having some feelings for him too, this pretty much ends the relationship.]]
* Subverted by ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. When Robin learns her work visa is about to expire the gang frantically try to come up with ways to keep her in the USA and this is one the first things they think of. Barney, who's secretly in love with Robin, drops to one knee about to propose when Marshall [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome realizes]] that there isn't enough time to process the paperwork on a marriage before the visa expires at the end of the week.

* In the ''Series/MamasFamily'' episode "Alien Marriage," Vinton, as a favor to his friend Claude, agrees to marry a Portuguese girl named Zenada to help her obtain a green card, but is talked out of it by Mama.
* Pam goes through one of these on ''Series/{{Martin}}'' to Martin's landlord Luis for five thousand dollars. [[spoiler:Naturally it gets annulled and she isn't paid. Turns out the groom didn't need to get married he was born in the U.S. and didn't know it]]

* [[NiceGuy Ben]] got into one of these on ''Series/{{Reaper}}''. In order to maintain the facade, his British wife refuses to allow him to date the woman he eventually falls for, even as the wife freely dates (and gets pregnant). This fails, she goes on the lam with money she said was for a lawyer, and he gets sentenced to 30 days jail time.

** In the final season of the original run Will hits it off with a Canadian guy whose visa is about to run out. Grace agrees to marry him so he and Will can have more time together. After the ceremony they discover the guy is a complete JerkAss that Will can't stand. Grace immediately annuls the marriage and it's implied the guy will probably be sent back to Canada soon afterwards.

->I got married in a rush to save a kid from being deported\\

* The subject of Music/GogolBordello's "Greencard Husband". Eugene Hutz and his family are Ukrainian and his family fled to the US after the Chernobyl disaster, and were given US Citizenship as refugees. Eugene became for all intents and purposes an American. In Greencard Husband, he creates a bizarre situation. Due to not being able to make any money for some reason, he marries a Chinese lesbian purely because she'll pay him anything to get citizenship. She becomes his $10 grand' wife but brings six fellow Lesbians with her. He only lives in a half bedroom apartment and cannot afford anything more. The cops are completely aware it's a sham marriage, and are watching the two. To avoid that becoming obvious, Eugene and his Chinese wife cannot split up.

->A girl got married against the law\\

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The Imperial Agent PC has to marry a Voss (a family member of their main on-planet contact) in order to gain permission to view relics important to their storyline on the planet, since only Voss citizens are permitted. Optionally, they may have been flirting beforehand, and Cipher Nine has the option of [[OptionalSexualEncounter taking their spouse's virginity]], though they don't stay together.

* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', when [[https://www.kevinandkell.com/2017/kk0505.html Dip proposes to Caniche]] shortly after she's had problems with immigration, she says she doesn't want to get married just to resolve them. He explains that he wants to marry her because he doesn't want them to be seperated for ''any'' reason.

-->'''Male Cab Driver:''' What do you think you're doing!?
-->'''Female Cab Driver:''' It's called "driving", you pig-eyed smell-stick!
-->'''Male Cab Driver:''' [[LoveAtFirstSight My god...you're stunning!]]
-->'''Female Cab Driver:''' Marry me, and make me a citizen!
-->'''Male Cab Driver:''' Uuuh, we have a problem here...

* Creator/WHAuden and German-Jewish Erika Mann were [[TheBeard mutual beards]] who got married in 1935 so she could get British citizenship to leave UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. They were friends and remained technically married until she died from a brain tumor in 1969, but for obvious reasons there was no romance involved.
* TruthInTelevision for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I3q74VgRO4/ this Guyanese couple]] on The People's Court. The husband lived in America but went back to Guyana for a funeral where he met his future wife. This woman took care of his elderly mother, and to repay her he married her to bring her to the U.S. He did love her, but bringing her to the States was the main reason for marrying her so quickly. This actually happens, though it's not extremely common due to the security measures.

* [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29287504 According to the BBC]] sham gay weddings are now being used in this way in the UK.

* Music/VanMorrison and his American girlfriend Janet Rigsbee (aka Janet Planet) married in 1968 to keep him from being deported. Ilene Berns, the widow of Bert Berns, who produced Morrison's first solo work, apparently held Morrison responsible for her husband's fatal heart attack at the end of 1967 (Morrison and Berns clashed frequently in the studio), and discovered that Berns hadn't properly obtained a work permit for Morrison, so Morrison was in the US illegally, and Ilene tried to turn him in.

* This is how Mac and Quon Le's marriage got started on ''Series/NightCourt''. Mac only meant it as a quick stopgap to keep Quon Le from being exported until her paperwork could go through, but when he realized that a) she hadn't understood that and b) she was in love with him, he suggested that they should get to know each other better and see how things progressed from there. It soon turned into a solid relationship.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' Peter is facing deportation ([[ItMakesSenseInContext he was technically born in Mexico]]) and the citizenship officer asks him questions about Lois to make sure it's not one of these... he winds up failing because he's such a bad husband he doesn't know the right answer to ''any'' of her questions. [[ArtisticLicenseLaw The fact Peter's mother is American, thus making him one by birth, was never brought up as a way to keep him from deportation]].

* Music/VanMorrison and his American girlfriend Janet Rigsbee (aka Janet Planet) married in 1968 to keep him from being deported. Ilene Berns, the widow of Bert Berns, who produced Morrison's first solo work, apparently held Morrison responsible for her husband's fatal heart attack at the end of 1967 (Morrison and Berns clashed frequently in the studio), and discovered that Berns hadn't properly obtained a work permit for Morrison, so Morrison was in the US illegally.

* Music/VanMorrison and his girlfriend Janet Rigsbee (aka Janet Planet) married in 1968 after Ilene Berns, the widow of Bert Berns, who produced Morrison's first solo work, who apparently held Morrison responsible for her husband's fatal heart attack at the end of 1967 (Morrison and Berns clashed frequently in the studio), tried to get him deported after discovering that Bert Berns hadn't properly obtained a work permit for Morrison, so Morrison was in the US illegally.

* In 1958, Scottish folk musician Alex Campbell married US folk musician Peggy Seeger so she could stay in the UK with Ewan [=MacColl=], who was still married to his second wife at the time. Seeger and [=MacColl=] finally got married in 1977. (According to Campbell, the whole thing was made even more surreal because Seegar was pregnant. The priest was lecturing him about getting this girl into trouble, and he just wanted to say "I'm not the guy you want to be talking to here...")

->'''Mexican woman''': Stop! You promised to marry me!\\
'''Jay''': All right, but I've got to tell you, I'm only marrying you to get to Cuba.\\
'''Mexican woman''': Well I am only marrying you for citizenship!\\
'''Jay''': ''(Starts crying)'' This is the most honest, caring relationship I've ever been in.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/CaptainVorpatrilsAlliance'', Ivan Vorpatril marries a MafiaPrincess from a clan destroyed in a MobWar to keep her from being arrested by local immigration authorities, which might have betrayed her location to the rival clan. Bonus points are given for the ceremony[[note]]spoken wedding oaths in front of two witnesses are legally binding on Barrayar[[/note]] taking place ''as the authorities are breaking down the barricaded door to Ivan's apartment''.

* In the ''Literature/StarTrekVanguard'' novel ''Precipice'', [[spoiler: T'Prynne marries Pennington so her assumed identity can have Earth citizenship and freely leave Vulcan before the authorities realise who she is.]]
* Played with in the Creator/AgathaChristie short story ''Witness for the prosecution'' (later adapted into both a play and a movie). A man is accused of murder. His wife claims that she doesn't love him, she never did, and she has no qualms about becoming the [[TitleDrop titular witness]]. It then gets [[TwistEnding twisted around at least twice before the end]].
* In ''Literature/BloodsuckingFiends'', Tommy's five illegally-immigrated (male) Chinese neighbors try to woo him for this purpose, having heard that same-sex marriage is legal in San Francisco.

* Gert from ''Literature/TheKitchenDaughter'' married Umberto at a young age so she could get out of Cuba. By the time she realized how abusive he was, it was too late - leaving him would mean being a single mother in an unfamiliar country with two young sons, so she stayed. She was eventually able to leave with the help of Ginny's ma, who paid her enough that she could afford her own place.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Played with on ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' when Oleg loses his papers and is afraid Sophie thinks he only wants to marry her for his green card. HilarityEnsues.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

This trope has been made notorious by xenophobic portrayals of the foreign party, who can quite easily be made out to be coldly (even gleefully) manipulating the poor, foolish national and dumping him at the first opportunity (extra points if they're saddled with the evil foreigner's children). Don't expect the circumstances which encouraged the foreigner to migrate in the first place to be mentioned, especially if the national's country is in any way responsible for it -- e.g. the myriad US -- Vietnamese marriages that arose from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and its aftermath.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Klaus tries to pull this off with Haley in order to prevent ICE from deporting him. The problem is, he's stuck in a goldfish's body. So, Haley puts her mind in a female goldfish's body and pretends to get married, much to Jeff's displeasure. Unfortunately, ICE later catches onto the scheme and sends both Haley and Klaus to Mexico despite Haley's United States citizenship and Klaus being from Germany.
-->'''Haley:''' Why are we in Mexico? You're from Germany!

* ''Series/AwkwafinaIsNoraFromQueens'': Nora's grandpa became an American citizen through a convoluted example. [[spoiler:His sister took on the last name of her American sponsors, then married him for only one day. After he became a citizen, they quickly divorced, so that he could resume dating Young Grandma.]]