I can't decide if this is depressing, hilarious, or a brilliant financial move. Thought I'd share so some of you can get a kick out of it, too. Names have been changed to protect the innoce... well... potential felons, if we're being honest.
My friend Sarah wanted my advice the other day, because a guy she's known for a while, George, is living in the US illegally. I guess his visa expired a while back, and for some reason he couldn't renew it. George makes significantly more money here than he ever could back in his home country, but he's worried about being deported and can't leave the country to see his family without giving up his life here.
So George asked Sarah to be his Green Card Wife. It would require 2 years of marriage before they could get divorced and go their separate ways. Strictly platonic, but she'd have to put her own love life on hold for 2 years so that things look legitimate if the government came snooping. In exchange, he's offered to pay her expenses for the duration of the marriage (rent/utilities/etc), plus a $15k lump sum up front. He travels for work, and owns several places around the country, so she could live wherever she wanted, would never even have to see him.
Now obviously, it's a felony if they get caught. Up to $250k fine and 5 years in prison.
I've known Sarah since we were 12, and I'm 95% sure she's not ballsy enough to go through with it. During our conversation, she was freaking out about how she'd never be able to tell anybody, including her parents. From a business perspective, though, I think it's a great move. She's in roughly $20k of student loan debt, with a job that doesn't pay particularly well, and she's been struggling to turn her financial life around for the last few years. If she played her cards right, she could pay off her debt and build a semi-decent savings, even on her minimal salary. This could be a major break.
Granted, if someone made me that offer, I'd shoot it down. Not that I care about the legality (I don't - rules are for people who don't know what they're doing. Sorry for being a bad American and letting you down, Gipper), it's strictly that putting my love life on hold for 2 years doesn't jive with my 5-10 year plan. If I had different end goals, though... damn, it'd be tempting.
So I'll ask my fellow single 20somethings: For $15k and 2 years of paid expenses, what would you do?