Dear LW,

Do NOT under ANY circumstances marry this guy for his citizenship. You have now written a letter, which has been posted on a public website, announcing your consideration of breaking a law. Do you think you are very difficult to track? You are not.

With all the spying on citizens going on, now that you have publically confessed to considering doing this, you should NOT marry an immigrant. In fact, even if you fall in love with an immigrant you should not marry him, because it will look like you are breaking the law on purpose.

Had you not written the letter... well. People get married for all sorts of reasons, and there's no reason why your marriage would be less likely to work than any other.

But you DID write the letter, so there is now evidence that can be used against you.

-Nicole

>>A niggling point: the phrase is "all tolled", not "all told". The saying means that you have "tolled" all the pluses and minuses.>>

Dear Glen, I have never heard that phrase, nor is it in any of my dictionaries. Perhaps it is a regional colloquialism? What dictionary are you able to find it in?

However, "all told" IS in my dictionary.

all told--Being or representing the entire or total number, amount, or quantity: All the windows are open. Deal all the cards. See Synonyms at whole. Constituting, being, or representing the total extent or the whole: all Christendom. Being the utmost possible of: argued the case in all seriousness. Every: got into all manner of trouble. Any whatsoever: beyond all doubt. Pennsylvania. Finished; used up: The apples are all. See Regional Note at gum band. Informal. Being more than one: Who all came to the party? See Regional Note at you-all.

Here's the definition for ALL TOLD

all told

With everything considered; in all: All told, we won 100 games.

if you're so desparate for capital that you're willing to sell your body (you mentioned having to have sex with your future "husband"), why not look into egg donation?

Notice I never correct people's grammar. I only correct the correcters when they're giving out bad information.

from MSU's Grammatical Errors web page:

Some people imagine that the expression should be "all tolled" as if items were being ticked off to the tolling of a bell, or involved the paying of a toll; but in fact this goes back to an old meaning of "tell": "to count." You could "tell over" your beads if you were counting them in a rosary. "All told" means "all counted."

Simple reason: It's illegal.

(note to Lilisolde - I LOVED your disclaimer! Of course, your doubts about getting hitched notwithstanding, yours isn't a sham marriage like that being contemplated by the LW)

...some straight clowns marry for the most bogus reasons and when gays and lesbians want to marry for love, there's something deviant about us?!

I just love this country...Thanks for raining on her parade, Cary.

People are really taking this issue too seriously. I obtained my US citizenship a number of years ago through my marriage to a naturalized citizen. We lived together and had sex, to be sure, but we eventually divorced and went our ways. This happens all the time.

My ex-wife had immigrated to the US because she was in a profession much in demand, and on the strength of that had obtained citizenship for herself, her kids, and her former husband.

Now I am single, but am very seriously contemplating bringing my foreign girlfriend here (to the US) on a fiance visa and marrying her so that I can benefit from the married tax allowance. She will also benefit hugely because she will be able to go shopping at Wal-Mart and buy things for her family, not to mention having me at her beck and call 24 hours a day.

The fact is that marriage is a contract, a trading of benefits that both partners get something out of, whether it be citizenship, companionship, sex, tax breaks, someone to cook their breakfast, take care of their kids, or whatever.

In fact EVERY marriage is to some extent a marriage of convenience, a family corporate merger, regardless of whether the family is domiciled locally or internationally. This is part of the great flow of peoples all over the world, so Salon readers had better get used to it.

The idea that government inspectors can tell if a marriage is "real" is absurd. They would not know a marriage of mass deception if the nuptial mass was celebrated in their own backyard.

There is however, at least among the readership of Salon, a kind of belief that marriage is not real unless the partners are "in love" ,whatever that means. This is chiefly because the Salon readership is composed predominantly of white middle-class granduate students who have a very narrow perspective.

At least that is how it seems to me.

It is OK for an American woman to marry a foreigner so he can get a greencard.

It if NOT OK for an American MAN to marry a foreigner so SHE can get a greencard.

NAW, couldn't be! NO WAY are American women jealous of the possibilities awaiting men who marry women from outside the USA.

LOL

In feminist's views, only the men need to be controlled...

??""It is OK for an American woman to marry a foreigner so he can get a greencard. It if NOT OK for an American MAN to marry a foreigner so SHE can get a greencard. NAW, couldn't be! NO WAY are American women jealous of the possibilities awaiting men who marry women from outside the USA. LOL In feminist's views, only the men need to be controlled... -- brightstar65>>

OMG boy, you are hallucinating! No one said anything remotely near what you said! In fact, gender has not been mentioned at all! LOL! It's like you're addicted to hating women and if you go too long without a fix, you have to manufacture some insult to spew about!!! LOL!

I know - I've done it. Canada to the USA. Assuming both of you have good educational backgrounds, work experience, and no criminal records, it'll take two years tops. It is a job though. To the world you are married. That means photographs, vacations, shared closets, etc.

Off the top of my head, I've met 5 'couples' over the years in NYC who have done it. Americans marrying individuals from Canada, Britian, Ireland, Spain, and France. All were accepted. All have good jobs now, including running businesses that hire Americans.

No regrets here.