I value honesty. The fact that this is a lie, pure and simple, is enough to make it a problem for me.

I try - and do - go by the 'no exception' rule on that. But for the completeness of the discussion, I'll put a little asterisk that it is fair to weigh competing moral issues; a lie to a criminal to prevent them from doing great harm, for example, is pretty defensible. The equivalent question here:

Is the 'moral good' of giving someone who would greatly benefit from the wealth and benefits of the US justify it?

Could you look a human being in the eye and say, for the sake of not breaking a moral belief on a lie, the price to that person of living in who knows what worse environment, not getting to the US, is one you feel is comfortably justified?

No, this issue makes us face something we normally don't like to - the unpleasantness for most people in the world compared to our situaation in the US. It's easy for us to rationalize it with comfortable justitifications - we can't let themall come here, etc. etc.

But when you are personally 'the decider' (another fine word ruined by W), looking at John in the eye and making this momentus decision affecting that one person, there's suddenly a whole lot of guilt with saying 'you lose'.

So, one left-turn the issue takes for me is away from the LW, and towards the importance for each of us to really care about global poverty, to really try to make our country a better leader in helping the rest of the world to do well in practical ways (often, simply reducing the harm we do).

One other concept to consider is the principle of universality - what if everyone did this? Big problem.

Yet another - the pressure it created for the government to deny the right to couples who *legitimately* are married; this citizenship process for them is a privilege which can be removed. Abuse of it, for selfish interests (in the case of the LW), threatens innocent people.

Having said all that, I net it out that it's wrong to do this, and right to do more to fight global poverty.

And one last moral: as tempting as the benefits are, it's far better to try to do things which are a win for everyone, than things which are a 'cheat' which have prices others must pay. You would think we've learned that lesson from corporations by now.

this woman is too stupid and naive to think about getting married for money, let alone start a business.

lots of people marry aliens for money. but nobody expects to have sex! that is pure BS. it's just one more thing to lie about.

sometimes such arrangements work out and sometimes they don't. but the people involved need to be sophisticated and cool-headed, not like this naive woman who mixes sex into the bargain. hey baby, it's purely a business arrangement.

and what a moron to broadcast her intentions to the world. it would not surprise me if the INS intercepts Cary's mail to find her name and address and arrest her for "thinking about fraud" -all part of the Bushworld mind-control program.

I have a friend who did this -- not for money but as a favor to a gay friend whose life partner had been denied a green card. My friend never lived with her husband. She sought competent legal advice about the immigration procedure prior to making the decision and weighed the risks. She did have to comingle assets and put him in her will. In her situation, she was the one with the money. She traveled with him and his partner on several vacations and they spent time together to learn more about each other. Her own parents never knew she was married. Luckily, it all worked out -- the immigration interview went well and they are awaiting final papers.

I think you need to make your own moral decision about this. As for the practical one, this should be just the start of your research. If you are thinking of going forward with such an arrangement, you need to find a local immigration attorney and get good advice and then weigh the risks and the benefits.