Indian citizen convicted of submitting fraudulent immigration application

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that on April 24, 2025,  following a two-day trial before United States District Judge Joseph Laplante, a federal jury convicted Nasir Hussain, 31, a citizen of India who had been living in Orlando, Florida, of submitting a false statement of material fact on an immigration application, specifically an I-360 Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) self-petition.  Immediately following his conviction at trial, Hussain was sentenced to time-served.

Hussain has been in continual federal custody since his arrest in May of 2023 on a wire fraud conspiracy charge.  The wire fraud case, which went to trial in October 2024, resulted in a jury verdict of guilty, which was subsequently set aside by the Court via a judgment of acquittal.  The United States has entered a notice of appeal of the judgment of acquittal and that appeal remains pending.

According to the April 25 press release from the US Attorney’s Office, which cites from court records and evidence presented at trial, Hussain traveled to Connecticut in October of 2021 for the purpose of entering a sham marriage to a United States Citizen.  Hussain never saw the woman prior to nor after the date of the wedding, the press release noted.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

After the wedding, Hussain paid for insurance policies in the name of his “wife,” subscribed to magazines in her name, and ordered merchandise in her name, all to manufacture evidence that Hussain and his “wife” were living together at his Orlando residence.  After manufacturing this evidence, Hussain went to an urgent care facility, and falsely claimed he was abused by his “wife.”  Hussain thereafter caused the submission of the evidence he had manufactured, along with medical records, to the United States Immigration and Citizenship Office in support of an I-360 VAWA self-petition, claiming he was the spouse of an abusive U.S. citizen with whom he had been cohabitating at his Orlando apartment.

The evidence at trial, including testimony of his “wife” and former roommates, established beyond a reasonable doubt that Hussain’s “wife” never lived in Florida as he had claimed, and therefore could never have abused him as he alleged.  Had Hussain’s immigration package been successful, he would have been awarded a VAWA visa and potentially Lawful Permanent Residence status in the United States.

Related posts:

Border Chaos and the Catch‐​22 of Immigration Reform Green Card approval rate reaches record lows 14 persons, mostly of Indian origin, charged in alleged $53 million pandemic relief fraud Indian-Origin Asra Hussain Raza and Vikesh Patel Among 67 Killed in American Eagle Flight 5342 Midair Collision