Unfortunately, many Nigerians are desperate for opportunity and will take any means to travel abroad. The old school generations are notorious for marrying “akatas” just o get papers. The swindle is they find a gullible guy or girl and convince them that they actually love them. After the person falls in love they marry them and stay with them long enough to get their green card or citizen ship and then divorce.

These men and woman often times have a whole separate family back home. They are willing to may people that they are completely oddly matched with just to get a better way of life. We covered something similar to this recently in this post.

The second type of swindle is when the person living abroad is aware of the scam and is paid to stay in a fake relationship until  the foreigner gets their papers together. But what happens when a family member wants you to persuade an “akata” friend into marrying one of your family members? Parents seem to assume that people abroad still are not hip to the swindle. But in fact they are and unfortunately many people would actually be willing to do it for the right price if you were just honest.

Thirdly, some parents  force their daughters into marrying complete strangers. This often happens when the woman is over 30 and the parents fear that she will not be able to settle down and find someone on her own. The man marrying the woman in this situation isn’t interested in anything but an opportunity to come abroad. He is willing to marry anyone to do so.

What are your thoughts on immigration scam? Have you ever been pressured into helping a family member get citizenship or green card?

xoxo

Mrs Ofoegbu