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Citizenship Marriage
- 682 statements
- 132 feature instances
- 151 referencing feature instances
Citizenship Marriage | type |
FeatureClass | |
Citizenship Marriage | label |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage | page |
CitizenshipMarriage | |
Citizenship Marriage | comment |
A marriage which occurs solely to allow an immigrant who would otherwise be deported to stay in the country. Shows operate on the assumption that once you've married a citizen, you're safe. In reality, becoming a permanent resident foreigner can take years even after you're married, although in the US at least one will probably receive a "green card" (permanent residence permit) in less than a year as long as paperwork is in order and the government doesn't suspect fraud.note The foreign spouse then becomes eligible to apply for citizenship after 3 years with the green card. They still have to meet all the residency and good moral character requirements and must pass the English, literacy, and civics tests. In the US, UK, and some other countries in The European Union, it simply lowers the time you have to have spent as a legal resident of the country to get citizenship from 5 years to 3. note This usually also applies where children are concerned. Generally, children are considered to be citizens of whichever country they were born in or might be considered citizens if their mother or father has legal citizenship. It does not, however, grant citizenship status to the immigrant parent(s). The child(ren) may, when they reach adulthood, choose to help sponsor their immigrant parent(s) for citizenship if they haven't gotten it already, but it is not an obligation or a guarantee that the parent will become a citizen. In Canada it allows the Canadian member of the couple to sponsor the non-Canadian member for family-class immigration after the couple is married or have cohabited for a year. This trope has been made notorious by xenophobic portrayals of the foreign party, who can quite easily be made out to be coldly (even gleefully) manipulating the poor, foolish national and dumping him at the first opportunity (extra points if they're saddled with the evil foreigner's children). Don't expect the circumstances which encouraged the foreigner to migrate in the first place to be mentioned, especially if the national's country is in any way responsible for it — e.g. the myriad US-Vietnamese marriages that arose from The Vietnam War and its aftermath. Alternatively, Romantic Comedy films are also famous for popularizing a more positive variant of this trope, where the arrangement leads to Marriage Before Romance between the two leads (in which case it is also a Romantic Fake–Real Turn). A favorite trope of Soap Operas. Almost inevitably, the twist is that one member of the couple is usually madly in love with their new spouse...who is equally in love with someone else. Complications typically ensue as the couple tries to maintain the facade in front of the INS and as the "in-love" spouse turns into a Foot-Dragging Divorcee, especially as the green card is processed and the marriage is no longer necessary for the person to stay in the US. A variant of this trope, popular in the USA, is when couples get married for insurance benefits or tax breaks involved in getting married. Occasionally involves a Mail-Order Bride, who may or may not be a Gold Digger. Examples |
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Citizenship Marriage | fetched |
2024-02-07T06:30:22Z | |
Citizenship Marriage | parsed |
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Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to BelleAndSebastian: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to CampGay: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to DomCom: Not an Item - CAT | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to Flodder: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to GogolBordello: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to HideInPlainSight: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to ItMakesSenseInContext: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to Jerkass: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to JiangShi: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to LikesOlderWomen: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to NiceGuy: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to SitCom: Not an Item - CAT | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingComment |
Dropped link to TruthInTelevision: Not an Item - CAT | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingUnknown |
Hide In Plain Sight | |
Citizenship Marriage | processingUnknown |
Flodder | |
Citizenship Marriage | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13a44d8b | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13a44d8b | comment |
One of these was a major plot point in the 4th season of Big Love. Manic Pixie Dream Wife Margene had one with hunky Serb Goran, ostensibly so that he could remain in the US with his real girlfriend Ana. Ana was pregnant with Margene's polygamist husband Bill's baby. While Margene swore up and down she was only doing it for Bill and the baby, it was also an elaborate plan to let Margene keep her home shopping business by distancing herself from the polygamous marriage Bill was planning to out to the world at the conclusion of his Utah State Senate campaign. (Margene is not legally married to Bill, being his third wife, and is presented to the world at large as a successful single mom, thus she would have the most to lose by such an outing). It didn't help that Margene and Goran actually developed crushes on each other, and Ana basically invited Marg into an egalitarian polyamorous relationship. And Bill won and outed the family, with Margene and the other wives at his side. So now she could be facing immigration fraud charges. Its Complicated. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13a44d8b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13a44d8b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Big Love | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13a44d8b | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13c3a84b | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13c3a84b | comment |
In season 2 of Melrose Place, Matt marries a Russian woman named Katya so she can stay in the United States with her young daughter. However, she later decides to move back to Russia to be with family. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13c3a84b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13c3a84b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Melrose Place | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_13c3a84b | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1463a028 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1463a028 | comment |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit A subplot of an episode in which the victim of the week was a Tibetan immigrant. The detectives suspect her husband, as he's vague about his alibi and when credit card records indicate that she had lunch with another man the day she was killed, they suspect her presumed lover as well. As it turns out, the detectives are wrong on all counts. The man was the husband's lover — the marriage was a sham in order to help her escape the horrific circumstances in her countrynote at the time the episode aired, same-sex marriage wasn't yet legal anywhere in the United States, so the husband didn't have the ability to marry his true partner anyway, and his caginess was to cover up the fraud. The victim and the husband's partner were both aware of the whole situation and had lunch together to bury the hatchet. Another episode about the murder of an Eastern European mail-order bride implied that while most matches and marriages were good, some women often stayed in bad relationships, knowing that divorce meant that they would be sent back to poverty-stricken conditions in their native country. |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_1463a028 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1463a028 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1463a028 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_14878ec6 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_14878ec6 | comment |
In Bloodsucking Fiends, Tommy's five illegally-immigrated (male) Chinese neighbors try to woo him for this purpose, having heard that same-sex marriage is legal in San Francisco. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_14878ec6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_14878ec6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bloodsucking Fiends | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_14878ec6 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_153f674f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_153f674f | comment |
Izzy Moreno from Miami Vice claims it's a "tragic coincidence" that he and his wife got divorced shortly after he got his green card. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_153f674f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_153f674f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Miami Vice | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_153f674f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_16712475 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_16712475 | comment |
A variation occurred in one episode of The Jetsons where a new robot law required Mac to marry Rosie to gain a legal permit and avoid being melted down. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_16712475 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_16712475 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Jetsons | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_16712475 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_18b5f138 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_18b5f138 | comment |
In The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, Caleb proposes to his boyfriend Benicio in order to keep him from getting deported. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_18b5f138 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_18b5f138 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_18b5f138 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_19328272 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_19328272 | comment |
On Scorpion, it turns out that Happy's mystery husband is Walter, whose visa expired and was going to be deported. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_19328272 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_19328272 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Scorpion | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_19328272 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ac602e8 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ac602e8 | comment |
Gert from The Kitchen Daughter married Umberto at a young age so she could get out of Cuba. By the time she realized how abusive he was, it was too late — leaving him would mean being a single mother in an unfamiliar country with two young sons, so she stayed. She was eventually able to leave with the help of Ginny's ma, who paid her enough that she could afford her own place. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ac602e8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ac602e8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Kitchen Daughter | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ac602e8 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ffdd2f5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ffdd2f5 | comment |
Let's Get Divorced!: Baek-hui and Han-gyeol plan to marry long enough for her to obtain permanent residency in Australia. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ffdd2f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ffdd2f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Let's Get Divorced! (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_1ffdd2f5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2275c659 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2275c659 | comment |
House does this in season 7 with an Eastern European woman as part of his downward spiral caused by Cuddy breaking up with him. The woman seems to actually like him, however, he lost interest in her and she left after the wedding. She came back when immigration came looking for her, and because of his newly-acquired criminal record, House had to play along instead of throwing her under the bus (and admit his original complicity). The "couple" seek help from serial monogamist Wilson, who disapproves but hates the idea of House going to jail even more. It almost works, but Wilson goes overboard, tries to impersonate a neighbor to give a sterling reference, and is caught. The two are forced to cohabit for real under the threat of deportation for her and prison for him. House kinda sorta falls in love with her or at least appreciates the domestic services she provides enough that when the notice comes that her permanent residency has been approved he throws it away before she can see it. She discovers this eventually. She's not pleased, and while the show had been teasing that she might be having some feelings for him too, this pretty much ends the relationship. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2275c659 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2275c659 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
House | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2275c659 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22a88f62 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22a88f62 | comment |
Margarita: To obtain residency in Canada, Gail proposes that Ben marry Margarita (because though Gail and Ben are a long-time couple, they haven't legally married). Deciding that would be awkward, Gail then says she can marry Margarita (as Canada has same-sex marriage). Margarita declines, but then her actual girlfriend Jane accepts her previous marriage proposal, resolving the problem anyways. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22a88f62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22a88f62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Margarita | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22a88f62 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22d87fc9 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22d87fc9 | comment |
Fez on That '70s Show, which treated it pretty realistically. After a last-minute marriage with the Really Gets Around Laurie, who did it just for fun, a government agent comes in to interview the two and the Formans to determine if the marriage is legit or not. Even once the agent determines it to be legit, Fez still later has to take a test to finally become an American citizen. When Laurie and Fez first tell the Formans of this, Red gets so shocked that he suffers a heart attack (which was made worse when Fez says "Hang in there, Dad"). | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22d87fc9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22d87fc9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
That '70s Show | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_22d87fc9 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2332fb0e | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2332fb0e | comment |
In Shadowlands, Confirmed Bachelor C. S. Lewis agrees to marry Joy in a civil ceremony so she can stay in England, as a personal favor. He eventually falls in love with her, and they have an actual wedding. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2332fb0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2332fb0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Shadowlands | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2332fb0e | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_23465101 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_23465101 | comment |
Antonio married Helen on Wings. They were later able to get an annulment when he became a citizen by other means. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_23465101 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_23465101 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Wings | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_23465101 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_261c8d3f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_261c8d3f | comment |
Subverted in The Simpsons: Homer tries to convince Selma to marry Apu but fails, leading them to look into other ways to keep him in the country. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_261c8d3f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_26ef42e7 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_26ef42e7 | comment |
In Kevin & Kell, when Dip proposes to Caniche shortly after she's had problems with immigration, she says she doesn't want to get married just to resolve them. He explains that he wants to marry her because he doesn't want them to be separated for any reason. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_26ef42e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_26ef42e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kevin & Kell (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_26ef42e7 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_27831967 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_27831967 | comment |
Parks and Recreation made a recurring story arc out of this trope. Early in the series, we're introduced to Tom's wife Wendy, a rich, attractive surgeon. Despite landing a wife who seems incredibly out of his league, Tom continues to make attempts at picking up women. Tom says it's because they have an open marriage, but soon it turns out that they don't love each other and it's actually a green card marriage because she's from Canada. Only once they divorce does Tom realize he really loved her after all. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_27831967 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_27831967 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Parks and Recreation | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_27831967 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_295f41db | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_295f41db | comment |
Downplayed in Past Lives: Nora and Arthur were already in a serious relationship, but they moved up their wedding plans to get her a green card after visa issues arose. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_295f41db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_295f41db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Past Lives | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_295f41db | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2aa31308 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2aa31308 | comment |
In the Mama's Family episode "Alien Marriage," Vinton, as a favor to his friend Claude, agrees to marry a Portuguese girl named Zenada to help her obtain a green card but is talked out of it by Mama. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2aa31308 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2aa31308 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mama's Family | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2aa31308 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2b386b4a | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2b386b4a | comment |
Desert Flower: Waris marries Neil to avoid deportation back to war-torn Somalia. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2b386b4a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2b386b4a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Desert Flower | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2b386b4a | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c26bc4d | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c26bc4d | comment |
No Tomorrow: Kareem's brother Rohan and his fiancee Sofia turn out to be engaged for this reason, though Rohan then reveals to Kareema that he's fallen in love with her. This makes it awkward as Kareema's fallen for Sofia (and slept with her) as well. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c26bc4d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c26bc4d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
No Tomorrow | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c26bc4d | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c2e6aae | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c2e6aae | comment |
Kimberly Akimbo (2021): In "Better" Debra sings that she married a possibly gay man to give him citizenship (she got paid for it). | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c2e6aae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c2e6aae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kimberly Akimbo (2021) (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2c2e6aae | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f28a53c | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f28a53c | comment |
Ellery Queen: A major plot point of "The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument". Magda is an illegal alien; Edgar Manning knew about this and held it over her, which is what provides her potential motive for his murder. When Magda reveals that Cliff Waddell had proposed marriage to her, Ellery realizes that Cliff also knew Magda was in the country illegally, and used this knowledge to frame her for Manning's murder. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f28a53c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f28a53c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ellery Queen | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f28a53c | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f3dd3bc | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f3dd3bc | comment |
Port Charles paired this with Honor-Related Abuse when a man married a woman to prevent her from being deported back to the Middle Eastern country that she fled after being raped, knowing that her family would seek to kill her to restore their reputation. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f3dd3bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f3dd3bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Port Charles | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2f3dd3bc | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2fe9c4b0 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2fe9c4b0 | comment |
Days of Our Lives several times. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2fe9c4b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2fe9c4b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Days of Our Lives | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2fe9c4b0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2feff3ce | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2feff3ce | comment |
Grey's Anatomy has the insurance variation in which Teddy marries Henry, who is ill and needs multiple surgeries so that he will be able to get treated. He quickly falls for her, but she isn't interested at first. They eventually start a real relationship before he dies in surgery. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2feff3ce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2feff3ce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Grey's Anatomy | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_2feff3ce | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_316a2d05 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_316a2d05 | comment |
The Wedding Banquet: Wei-wei agrees to a marriage of convenience with Wai-tung because it's the only way she'll get a green card. He agrees because he's secretly (to his parents, who live in Taiwan) gay and it'll get them to stop setting him up with prospective brides. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_316a2d05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_316a2d05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Wedding Banquet | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_316a2d05 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_335f7821 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_335f7821 | comment |
In Muriel's Wedding, where a South African swimmer needs an Australian wife to get a passport to enter the Olympics (at the time of the sporting boycott of South Africa). He marries Muriel, who gets the dream wedding she wanted, but not exactly the marriage - but it's not a typical romantic comedy. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_335f7821 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_335f7821 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Muriel's Wedding | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_335f7821 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_33c2f8ac | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_33c2f8ac | comment |
In Against the Tide of Years, the Republic of Nantucket reluctantly agrees to allow Kat Hollard to marry King Kashtiliash in order to cement an alliance with Babylon. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_33c2f8ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_33c2f8ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Against the Tide of Years | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_33c2f8ac | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34049e62 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34049e62 | comment |
Pam goes through one of these on Martin to Martin's landlord Luis for five thousand dollars. Naturally it gets annulled and she isn't paid. Turns out the groom didn't need to get married; he was born in the U.S. and didn't know it. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34049e62 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34049e62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Martin | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34049e62 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34abc987 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34abc987 | comment |
Mo (2022): Mo's friend Hameed marries an American woman primarily to gain a green card. He pointedly does so in a cowboy suit and extols her bottle-blonde hair. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34abc987 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34abc987 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mo (2022) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_34abc987 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_379c9a85 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_379c9a85 | comment |
All My Children: Brian marries An Li so that she won't be sent back to China. The fact that she was a student who could have gotten a visa, as well as employed by people who could have sponsored her somehow escaped both of their notice. But possibly not An Li's, as she was of course, madly in love with Brian and hoping that he would reciprocate, even trying to pull The Baby Trap in order to hang onto him. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_379c9a85 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_379c9a85 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
All My Children | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_379c9a85 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3a219aa4 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3a219aa4 | comment |
Jeremy and Nancy on Peep Show. Jeremy initially wants to take the marriage seriously, but Nancy isn't having any of it. In a later episode, she is shown having forgotten that they ever got married at all. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3a219aa4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3a219aa4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Peep Show | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3a219aa4 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3d15e2a8 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3d15e2a8 | comment |
In one episode of Producing Parker, Parker agrees to marry her boss so he can stay in the country. In the end, it turns out the boss was already a citizen. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3d15e2a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3d15e2a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Producing Parker | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_3d15e2a8 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_407b3bd3 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_407b3bd3 | comment |
Van Morrison and his American girlfriend Janet Rigsbee (aka Janet Planet) married in 1968 to keep him from being deported. Ilene Berns, the widow of Bert Berns, who produced Morrison's first solo work, apparently held Morrison responsible for her husband's fatal heart attack at the end of 1967 (Morrison and Berns clashed frequently in the studio) and discovered that Berns hadn't properly obtained a work permit for Morrison, so Morrison was in the US illegally, and Ilene tried to turn him in. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_407b3bd3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_407b3bd3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Van Morrison (Music) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_407b3bd3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_42c05590 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_42c05590 | comment |
The Rocko's Modern Life episode "Kiss Me, I'm Foreign" had Filburt pretend he was a woman so he could keep Rocko from being deported by pretending they were getting married. Of course, Fil ended up getting a little too into his role... | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_42c05590 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_42c05590 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rocko's Modern Life | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_42c05590 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_44cb52cc | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_44cb52cc | comment |
Christine and her Bermuda-born friend and business partner Barb enter a Lesbian Citizenship Marriage on The New Adventures of Old Christine. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_44cb52cc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_44cb52cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The New Adventures of Old Christine | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_44cb52cc | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_45750650 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_45750650 | comment |
The reality show 90 Day Fiancé deals with this often, being about people marrying foreigners. It's a common assumption that they're in it for the green card. Usually, there are some couples that are very obviously this trope, with attractive men/women marrying less attractive or significantly older people. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_45750650 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_45750650 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
90 Day Fiancé | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_45750650 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4737c653 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4737c653 | comment |
One episode of Elementary has two of the suspects be one of the college professor victim's graduate students and the woman who was publicly his wife but was really his illegally imported Sex Slave. The two of them had met and fallen in love, so unusually for this trope, the citizenship marriage between them is a love match. Once Sherlock proves they're both innocent he and Captain Gregson arrange for a friendly judge to rush through the marriage so the woman won't be deported. In another episode, Joan realises the guy she's currently seeing lied to her about being married. Sherlock does some digging and confirms the man has a still-valid marriage registered. When Joan confronts him the guy admits that he married a woman he met while volunteering for a charity so she wouldn't get deported back to her war-torn country. He stresses that they have no real relationship and are waiting until they can quietly divorce without risking her citizenship. Joan is impressed by his compassion but he dumps her when he learns how she found out about the marriage. |
|
Citizenship Marriage / int_4737c653 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4737c653 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Elementary | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4737c653 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4bcd7167 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4bcd7167 | comment |
Red Heat. Soviet-era gangster Viktor "Rosta" has paid Cat Manzetti to be his wife so he can carry out his criminal activities. She dies once You Have Outlived Your Usefulness. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4bcd7167 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4bcd7167 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Red Heat | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4bcd7167 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4c1ee69a | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4c1ee69a | comment |
Born in East L.A. stars Cheech Marin as a Mexican-American who is mistaken for an illegal immigrant and deported. In the end, he manages to sneak back into the USA and hastily marries his new girlfriend so she will not be deported - she lives in Mexico but is from El Salvador and risks being sent back there as she has had her ID stolen. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4c1ee69a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4c1ee69a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Born in East L.A. | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4c1ee69a | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4d8e5ec | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4d8e5ec | comment |
Subverted in The Daily Show, where John Oliver (British) and Jason Jones (Canadian, and real-life married to another Canadian who is also a Daily Show correspondent) try this after gay marriage became legal in California, and then find out that neither is a U.S. citizen. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4d8e5ec | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4d8e5ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Daily Show | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4d8e5ec | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4f2fe3f1 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4f2fe3f1 | comment |
Hardy Bucks does this, when The Boo agrees to marry Koffi so that he can stay in Ireland. The Guarda is looking for evidence to stop the wedding since he does not believe that either man is gay, and pulls a Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace interruption, with evidence of both men's straight pornography. This leads to a HeartwarmingMoment when Eddie leads the rest of the people in attendance to protest and continue the wedding, not caring about their orientation. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4f2fe3f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4f2fe3f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Hardy Bucks | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_4f2fe3f1 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_54d84ec4 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_54d84ec4 | comment |
Dear John: Ralph's Polish ex-wife married him for citizenship. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_54d84ec4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_54d84ec4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dear John | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_54d84ec4 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5562da6a | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5562da6a | comment |
In the 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "A Dick On One Knee", Sally is set to marry a French man, though Sally doesn't realize he is only marrying her so he can legally stay in the country. When Sally finds out that he's an illegal alien, she says that the plan can't work because SHE'S an alien too (as in, an alien from outer space, but she doesn't clarify that point). | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5562da6a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5562da6a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
3rd Rock from the Sun | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5562da6a | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56115900 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56115900 | comment |
Subverted in the film Like Crazy (2011). The main characters Jacob and Anna are actually romantically involved with each other, but Anna overstays her student visa and is banned from entering the U.S. She and Jacob get married in an attempt to get the ban lifted, but they still have to wait six months to see each other, and when the ban is finally lifted both Anna and Jacob have started seeing other people. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56115900 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56115900 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Like Crazy | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56115900 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_561ec21f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_561ec21f | comment |
In Shanghai Girls, sisters Pearl and May plan to move to Hong Kong after all of their money is lost in a bet, instead of marrying their husbands who have moved to America. However, extenuating circumstances lead to Pearl and May going to America instead so they can live with their husbands and become citizens. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_561ec21f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_561ec21f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Shanghai Girls | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_561ec21f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_564871a | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_564871a | comment |
Jamie Reagan's plot in the Blue Bloods episode "Exiles" has him and his partner encounter a Polish-American girl trying to overcome a Parental Marriage Veto from her father so she can marry her Syrian boyfriend. At the end of the episode, it turns out to be this trope: the boyfriend is actually gay and his life would be in danger if he returns home after his student visa expires (pictures of him partying with other men turned up on Facebook), so he's marrying his platonic friend to get around ICE. (No explanation is given for why he didn't try applying for refugee status; besides his being gay, the Syrian Civil War was well underway at the episode's airdate.) | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_564871a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_564871a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Blue Bloods | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_564871a | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56ed0474 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56ed0474 | comment |
This is the backstory of the male lead in romantic comedy The Rebound, whose French wife leaves him after their marriage. He's too nice to divorce her as she would get deported. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56ed0474 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56ed0474 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Rebound | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_56ed0474 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5a3533fe | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5a3533fe | comment |
Randy and Catalina on My Name Is Earl. In a common twist, Randy is deeply in love with Catalina, but this is subverted when they consummate the marriage - Catalina does her best to make herself as unappealing as possible so as to make Randy fall out of love with her. It works, but she discovers too late that Randy is a very sensitive lover, and the episode ends with stheir roles reversed. Unfortunately, this is then never mentioned again. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5a3533fe | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5a3533fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
My Name Is Earl | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5a3533fe | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5abb3092 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5abb3092 | comment |
A variant in Create Your Own Fate. Kanril Eleya abuses the fact that, under Federation law, the child of a citizen is a citizen in order to get Pamela Bentine's six-year-old twins transported to Bajor to be with her. The twins were fathered by a currently incarcerated ex-Starfleet officer when Bentine was a child prostitute. (Bentine's citizenship is up in the air: technically she was born in the Federation, but her home planet seceded and she was part of the independence movement.) | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5abb3092 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5abb3092 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Create Your Own Fate (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5abb3092 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5fa8e894 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5fa8e894 | comment |
Jack (native Australian) and Juliet (immigrant to Australia from Canada) in the Newsflesh novella How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea. This is apparently a common practice in their world since Australians are noted for their survival skills and a rather more level-headed approach to zombie outbreak safety than in most of the world. Another Aussie character, Hotaru (apparently with some Japanese ancestry) comments that it's common for people to assume she's looking for a native to marry, until they hear her speak, when she's then asked if she's in the market for a spouse. (She isn't since she already has a husband and a wife.) | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5fa8e894 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5fa8e894 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Newsflesh | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_5fa8e894 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60156176 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60156176 | comment |
In the Vorkosigan Saga novel Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, Ivan Vorpatril marries a Mafia Princess from a clan destroyed in a Mob War to keep her from being arrested by local immigration authorities, which might have betrayed her location to the rival clan. Bonus points are given for the ceremonynote spoken wedding oaths in front of two witnesses are legally binding on Barrayar taking place as the authorities are breaking down the barricaded door to Ivan's apartment. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60156176 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60156176 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Vorkosigan Saga | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60156176 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60422c9f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60422c9f | comment |
Stromboli: Karin marries Antonio so she can get out of the Displaced Persons camp and live in Italy. It doesn't work out, although it's probably still better than getting deported to the Soviet Union where she'd probably go to the gulag. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60422c9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60422c9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Stromboli | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60422c9f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60f02ddb | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60f02ddb | comment |
In American Dad! episode, Klaus tries to pull this off with Hayley in order to prevent ICE from deporting him. The problem is, he's stuck in a goldfish's body. So, Hayley puts her mind in a female goldfish's body and pretends to get married, much to Jeff's displeasure. Unfortunately, ICE later catches onto the scheme and sends both Hayley and Klaus to Mexico despite Hayley's United States citizenship and Klaus being from Germany. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60f02ddb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60f02ddb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
American Dad! | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_60f02ddb | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6664e2f7 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6664e2f7 | comment |
On Queer as Folk (UK), one of the lesbian characters marries a (somewhat unpleasant) male friend so he can stay in the country, much to the displeasure of her girlfriend. In the end, the girlfriend conspires with Stuart and Nathan to send certain letters proving the bride is gay to the immigration authorities and get the man deported. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6664e2f7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6664e2f7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Queer as Folk (UK) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6664e2f7 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6af83614 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6af83614 | comment |
A Thing of Vikings: After the Thing passes a law that limits dragon training to members of the Allied Clans, there's an explosion of new marriages and concubinages, since those are ways to join a clan, and Berk allows polygamy. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6af83614 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6af83614 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Thing of Vikings (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6af83614 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6b49466 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6b49466 | comment |
In Baskets Frenchwoman Penelope explicitly agrees to marry the titular character just for the green card and to escape from her famous father's background and expectations while telling him that she does not love him, going on to live separately and to her mother-in-law's surprise, keeping her maiden name. Just to prove it further she even hooks up with a Farm Boy in a later episode. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6b49466 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6b49466 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Baskets | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6b49466 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6f734712 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6f734712 | comment |
Smallville: Luthorcorp had a female scientist using this to come to America. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6f734712 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6f734712 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Smallville | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_6f734712 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7390585f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7390585f | comment |
In Always You, Abby proposes to Strange after discussing how getting married would allow her to get an American visa and allow the two of them (and Thursday the Long Furby) to have a life together. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7390585f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7390585f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Always You (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7390585f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_74ce3b5b | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_74ce3b5b | comment |
In Beetlejuice, Betelgeuse has to marry someone in order to be free from the Neitherworld and do whatever he wants. So, he plans to marry a very reluctant Lydia Deetz. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_74ce3b5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_74ce3b5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Beetlejuice | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_74ce3b5b | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_760bd4a5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_760bd4a5 | comment |
In the Star Trek: Vanguard novel Precipice, T'Prynne marries Pennington so her assumed identity can have Earth citizenship and freely leave Vulcan before the authorities realize who she is. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_760bd4a5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_760bd4a5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek: Vanguard | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_760bd4a5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7680545c | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7680545c | comment |
The Nanny: In "Green Card", Fran gets engaged to a sleazy French guy who was hired to be Brighton's tutor. However, it is later revealed that he was only using Fran to get a green card to stay in the US and almost made a pass at C.C., causing Fran to dump him. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7680545c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7680545c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Nanny | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7680545c | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a380f3b | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a380f3b | comment |
A bizarre version on General Hospital, when the British Holly feared she would be deported and the Australian Robert offered to marry her. How this would have helped her stay in the United States is never explained. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a380f3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a380f3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
General Hospital | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a380f3b | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a4375df | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a4375df | comment |
A memorable plotline from 21 Jump Street had Doug Penhall marry an El Salvadoran refugee to allow her to stay in the country. The two had genuinely fallen in love, but the judge still declared their marriage void and had her deported. Doug later learned that she had been killed by an El Salvadoran death squad. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a4375df | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a4375df | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
21 Jump Street | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7a4375df | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7cdca2c9 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7cdca2c9 | comment |
This is the setup for The Proposal. Sandra Bullock's character is a Canadian citizen and bullies her put-upon assistant into agreeing to marry her to allow her to remain in the US. He uses her desperation to get her to agree to treat him better and publish his book. Of course, being a Rom Com, they wind up developing genuine feelings for each other and she calls off the sham wedding. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7cdca2c9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7cdca2c9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Proposal | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7cdca2c9 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7d8c61a2 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7d8c61a2 | comment |
Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Imperial Agent PC has to marry a Voss (a family member of their main on-planet contact) in order to gain permission to view relics important to their storyline on the planet since only Voss citizens are permitted. Optionally, they may have been flirting beforehand, and Cipher Nine has the option of taking their spouse's virginity, though they don't stay together. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7d8c61a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7d8c61a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Wars: The Old Republic (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_7d8c61a2 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_807ae770 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_807ae770 | comment |
In Cheap Thrills Gladys bluntly suggests that Jeordie's parents did this since his father met his mother while he was an exchanges student. It's never confirmed either way if this was actually the case, though they do truly love each other. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_807ae770 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_807ae770 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Cheap Thrills (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_807ae770 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8356e15f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8356e15f | comment |
Frieda: Frieda is a German woman who helps English airman Robert to escape from a German prisoner-of-war camp as the Second World War nears its end. She loves him; he is only grateful to her. In a church between the Russian-German lines, however, Robert marries her, so that she can obtain a British passport. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8356e15f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8356e15f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Frieda | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8356e15f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_841ff687 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_841ff687 | comment |
In My Mad Fat Diary, Rae's mum marries Karim, her live-in lover, so that he doesn't get deported. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_841ff687 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_841ff687 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
My Mad Fat Diary | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_841ff687 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_858624ba | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_858624ba | comment |
Will & Grace: Jack and Rosario get married at the end of the first season so she can stay in the country. Jack even moves in with her to maintain the charade. They almost get busted when it turns out the INS agent assigned to their case is one of Jack's former flings, and thus knows Jack is very gay. They ultimately break up when Rosario falls in love with Karen's gardener. In the final season of the original run, Will hits it off with a Canadian guy whose visa is about to run out. Grace agrees to marry him so he and Will can have more time together. After the ceremony, they discover the guy is a complete Jerkass that Will can't stand. Grace immediately annuls the marriage and it's implied the guy will probably be sent back to Canada soon afterwards. |
|
Citizenship Marriage / int_858624ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_858624ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Will & Grace | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_858624ba | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_88222c71 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_88222c71 | comment |
In Singles, Linda Powell considers using this to keep her new Spanish boyfriend in the country. Averted when it turns out he just uses the expired-visa story to keep from having to call his hookups after a week. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_88222c71 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_88222c71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Singles | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_88222c71 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_89fa77a | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_89fa77a | comment |
Coronation Street has Tina McIntyre arranging for her boyfriend Graeme Proctor to marry her friend Xin Chiang so that Xin doesn't get deported to China, which leads Xin and Tina having to pretend to hate one another to keep up the charade that Xin stole Graeme from Tina. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_89fa77a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_89fa77a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Coronation Street | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_89fa77a | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8a6d835c | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8a6d835c | comment |
As the World Turns: Katie married Simon so that he could stay in the country to be close to Lily, who he had fallen in love with, but unusually, Katie and Simon eventually fell in love. A few years later, Noah married Ameera, a girl from Afghanistan, whose family his father Colonel Mayer was trying to help. This ends up failing and the girl gets arrested. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8a6d835c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8a6d835c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
As the World Turns | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8a6d835c | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d814070 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d814070 | comment |
Narrowly averted on M*A*S*H: A GI who is going home wants to bring a South Korean girl home with him, ostensibly to be his wife but it's pretty clear that she's being sent to become a prostitute; her pimp is even paying the GI to marry her. Fortunately (or unfortunately, for the pimp) the doctors discover that she has TB and is therefore barred from entering the US. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d814070 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d814070 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
M*A*S*H | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d814070 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d84ebc5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d84ebc5 | comment |
Latka got one of these in the first season of Taxi. Later he had to get divorced from his prostitute "wife" in order to marry Simka. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d84ebc5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d84ebc5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Taxi | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8d84ebc5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8dbdd4f | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8dbdd4f | comment |
Phil Mitchell in the UK soap Eastenders once married a woman so she could get citizenship. Naturally, this being Eastenders, complications arose when he needed to get a divorce to marry someone else. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8dbdd4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8dbdd4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
EastEnders | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8dbdd4f | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8deb62ad | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8deb62ad | comment |
Prison Break: Shortly before the start of the series, The Protagonist Michael marries a woman named Nika to get her a green card while he has her help him with his plan to break his brother Lincoln out of prison. This turns out rather badly, as Nika falls in love with Michael for real, while he is in love with Sara and never sees his relationship with Nika as anything other than one of convenience. The hurt she feels over this ultimately leads her to betray him. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8deb62ad | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8deb62ad | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Prison Break | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8deb62ad | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8e2884a5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8e2884a5 | comment |
In the Murder In Mind episode "Cornershop", protagonist Sanjay's daughter is having an arranged marriage with her wealthy uncle's business associate so that the groom can have a British passport. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8e2884a5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8e2884a5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Murder In Mind | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_8e2884a5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9277eb55 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9277eb55 | comment |
Ondine: at the end, Syracuse and Ondine marry so she can stay in Ireland, but they're basically in love anyway. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9277eb55 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9277eb55 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ondine | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9277eb55 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_92844ddb | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_92844ddb | comment |
Dinosaurs: The government goes after four-leggers, saying they're taking two-legger jobs, and makes all four-leggers move back to their side of the swamp unless they're married to a two-legger. Monica (a Brontosaurus) gets married to Roy (a T-Rex type) in order to not have to move away. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_92844ddb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_92844ddb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dinosaurs | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_92844ddb | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_93170b94 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_93170b94 | comment |
In Gai-Gin, when Gin is about to be deported from Japan, she brings this trope up. The officer laughs...until he realizes that she's serious. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_93170b94 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_93170b94 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gai-Gin (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_93170b94 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9585f217 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9585f217 | comment |
This trope dates at least as far back as 1928 and The Mating Call. Les, who is in need of a wife, just strolls right into Ellis Island and picks Catherine, a lovely refugee who is having trouble getting past border patrol. He marries her right there in the building and takes her home. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9585f217 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9585f217 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Mating Call | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9585f217 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9683d65c | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9683d65c | comment |
A plot point in Glory in the Thunder. Vahagn schemes to marry Barsamin to Princess Katarosi because in four years Bars will gain citizenship, at which point he can assassinate Katarosi and gain complete control of the country. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9683d65c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9683d65c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Glory in the Thunder | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9683d65c | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_974f7efb | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_974f7efb | comment |
The Drew Carey Show has Drew marry his boss, Mr. Wick, and they pretend to be gay lovers and get a domestic partnership in Vermont to prevent him from being deported back to England, and so that Drew got his job back.note In real life, gay couples could not get citizenship for their partners due to the Defense of Marriage Act until it was overturned in 2013, much less when the episode aired, making this a large case of Artistic License – Law. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_974f7efb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_974f7efb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Drew Carey Show | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_974f7efb | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_97a70962 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_97a70962 | comment |
Inverted in The Professionals where it's used to threaten someone with deportation. CI5 has arrested a mercenary but there's no evidence against him. Unfortunately he used this trope to gain papers of convenience into Angola, and there's nothing stopping the British government from repatriating him to his last known address. Faced with being returned to Angola—and execution or a Hellhole Prison courtesy of the new regime—the mercenary becomes a lot more cooperative. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_97a70962 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_97a70962 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Professionals | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_97a70962 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0b0bb6 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0b0bb6 | comment |
Subverted in the climax of the film Bagdad Cafe (Out Of Rosenheim): the main character, a tourist willing to stay in the country she's visiting, is about to be kicked off the country. One of her friends then runs to her, proposing she marry him so she can stay. The trick here is that's actually a completely romantic wedding since they had been flirting a lot before that but were actually too shy to admit their feelings. So immigration laws actually made their love story possible. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0b0bb6 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0b0bb6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bagdad Cafe | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0b0bb6 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0ea0a8 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0ea0a8 | comment |
Emma on Dawson's Creek. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0ea0a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0ea0a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dawson's Creek | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d0ea0a8 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d966dc9 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d966dc9 | comment |
In Island in the Sea of Time, Marian Alston marries Swindapa so that Swindapa can legally participate in Nantucket's civic life. This turns out to have benefits, as it also gives Alston citizenship among the Fiernan. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d966dc9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d966dc9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Island in the Sea of Time | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9d966dc9 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9dd666b4 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9dd666b4 | comment |
On Shameless (US), Jimmy ends up married to Estefania because her South American drug lord father wants her to become a US citizen and makes Jimmy An Offer You Can't Refuse. Jimmy is handsome and from an affluent family and Estefania is smoking hot so most people would not see anything suspicious about them getting married. However, they both happen to be in love with other people so upon arriving in the US they go their separate ways. Estefania lives in luxury with her boyfriend and Jimmy moves in with Fiona. When he finds out, Estefania's father is not happy because this arrangement is bound to arouse suspicions from immigration. To correct the situation, he has Estefania's boyfriend killed and threatens to do the same to Jimmy if he fails to convince people that he and Estefania are really married. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9dd666b4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9dd666b4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Shameless (US) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9dd666b4 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9e03ce2e | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9e03ce2e | comment |
Occurs in The Guard with Aiden and Gabriella. He's gay, and she married him for the visa. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9e03ce2e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9e03ce2e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Guard | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_9e03ce2e | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a3667e99 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a3667e99 | comment |
Used in Paul Blart: Mall Cop to explain the titular character's daughter's Missing Mom: She had married Blart only for the green card and abandoned him and her daughter as soon as she was born. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a3667e99 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a3667e99 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Paul Blart: Mall Cop | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a3667e99 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a64d24f6 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a64d24f6 | comment |
Zara Hossain Is Here: Zara's friend Nick says he will marry her so she can stay in the US when it looks like her visa is going to be revoked. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a64d24f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a64d24f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Zara Hossain Is Here | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_a64d24f6 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_abab46bf | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_abab46bf | comment |
One Big Happy begins with one of these between Luke and Prudence, though they've also got Love at First Sight so it's not an issue. What is an issue is when they find out that their Vegas marriage was never actually legal and they only have a few days to get married for real or else Prudence will get deported. In the season finale, Luke can't get to the ceremony in time, so his lesbian best friend Lizzy marries her for him. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_abab46bf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_abab46bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
One Big Happy | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_abab46bf | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ae4bc3fb | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ae4bc3fb | comment |
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens: Nora's grandpa became an American citizen through a convoluted example. His sister took on the last name of her American sponsors, then married him for only one day. After he became a citizen, they promptly divorced, so that he could resume dating Young Grandma. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ae4bc3fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ae4bc3fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ae4bc3fb | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b0fc9724 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b0fc9724 | comment |
A Saturday Night Live sketch hilariously parodied this concept, with a couple attending marriage counseling only to find that the Eastern European wife has no interest in anything but getting the husband to sign papers proving she's legally married to him. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b0fc9724 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b0fc9724 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Saturday Night Live | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b0fc9724 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b472ccbc | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b472ccbc | comment |
The first season finale of Gimme, Gimme, Gimme revolved around this: Tom married a lesbian friend so she could stay in England with her lover. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b472ccbc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b472ccbc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b472ccbc | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b4737fde | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b4737fde | comment |
Tower Heist: Odessa is desperately wanting a husband so she won't be deported back to Jamaica. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b4737fde | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b4737fde | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Tower Heist | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b4737fde | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b598aca4 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b598aca4 | comment |
Referenced during an episode of Goodness Gracious Me in a song called "Immigration", where a British Pakistani woman who has just married her Pakistani-born boyfriend has to convince the authorities that they did not get married solely so he can have citizenship. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b598aca4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b598aca4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
GoodnessGraciousMe | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b598aca4 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b690910e | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b690910e | comment |
Apparently the motivation of British bartender Monte in The Linguini Incident. He needs someone to marry him so he can get a Green Card. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b690910e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b690910e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Linguini Incident | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b690910e | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b87c1da0 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b87c1da0 | comment |
The Island in the Sea of Time (Series) makes use of this trope a few times: In Island in the Sea of Time, Marian Alston marries Swindapa so that Swindapa can legally participate in Nantucket's civic life. This turns out to have benefits, as it also gives Alston citizenship among the Fiernan. William Walker makes a point of taking a wife from the Iraiina in order to cement his ties to the community in advance of taking it over to create his empire. In Against the Tide of Years, the Republic of Nantucket reluctantly agrees to allow Kat Hollard to marry King Kashtiliash in order to cement an alliance with Babylon. |
|
Citizenship Marriage / int_b87c1da0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b87c1da0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Island in the Sea of Time (Series) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b87c1da0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b8c8f3b5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b8c8f3b5 | comment |
In PHD, Tajel marries Khumalo partly in order to finally resolve her visa issues. They do love each other, but Tajel is a Granola Girl who doesn't believe in marriage. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b8c8f3b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b8c8f3b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
PHD (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_b8c8f3b5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ba2f2d56 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ba2f2d56 | comment |
Background plot to the Czech dramedy Kolya (1995), set in the final year of communist Czechoslovakia. A curmudgeonly old loner who works as a freelance viola player for a living agrees to marry a young Russian gal just so she could get temporary Czech citizenship and more easily emigrate to Western Europe later on. (In return, the old bachelor can buy himself a Trabant.) Within barely a few weeks, the mock-bride runs off abroad but has to leave her eponymous 5-year-old son Kolya in the care of her fake Czech husband. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ba2f2d56 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ba2f2d56 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Kolya | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ba2f2d56 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bc43b128 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bc43b128 | comment |
Come Live with Me (1941), where a Viennese refugee asks an American writer to marry her so she can stay in the United States. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bc43b128 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bc43b128 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Come Live with Me | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bc43b128 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bf949aad | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bf949aad | comment |
Superstore has Jonah offer to marry Mateo, who is undocumented. Mateo decides he’d rather obtain a visa via the route of being violently assaulted. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bf949aad | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bf949aad | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Superstore | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_bf949aad | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_c715f539 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_c715f539 | comment |
Though for legal protection rather than immigration issues, this trope happens in Outlander between the main couple. Briefly again, later, too. Claire needs to be a British citizen again or somesuch and Jamie is believed dead, so she marries Lord John. (Briefly.) | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_c715f539 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_c715f539 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Outlander | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_c715f539 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d59a80e9 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d59a80e9 | comment |
In Crash Landing on You after protagonist Se-ri gets stuck in North Korea, she finds out that Alberto, the guy her brothers wanted her to marry, is there too. He’s a dual U.K. / South Korean citizen there on the run and offers to marry her so she can get a British passport to get out. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d59a80e9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d59a80e9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Crash Landing on You | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d59a80e9 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d8cc01de | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d8cc01de | comment |
In Big Time Rush, when Buddha Bob was about to get sent back to Canada, Katie lies to the immigration officer and tells him that Buddha Bob is engaged to her mom. They end up getting married and pass the immigration interview. Buddha Bob is allowed to stay in the US, but Bitters' marriage license actually expired eight years ago, therefore Buddha Bob and Katie's mom were not legally married. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d8cc01de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d8cc01de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Big Time Rush | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_d8cc01de | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_da90986c | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_da90986c | comment |
In Beetlejuice, just like in the movie, BJ's ultimate plan for Lydia is this. If he marries someone alive, he can stay in the world of the living; he flat-out calls it "a green-card type of deal" in an effort to reassure Lydia when she's grossed out by the idea. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_da90986c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_da90986c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Beetlejuice (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_da90986c | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_daaafa37 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_daaafa37 | comment |
In series two of Psychoville, Fag Hag Hattie is asked to do this so that her gay friend's boyfriend can remain in the country after his student visa expires. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_daaafa37 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_daaafa37 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Psychoville | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_daaafa37 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dbb6bdf2 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dbb6bdf2 | comment |
Mork & Mindy: Due to a series of miscommunications Mork receives a notice from Immigration Services who believe he's an immigrant from another country rather than another planet. When he can't produce a birth certificate or passport the judge mentions that he might have to get married to stay in America. Mindy offers to marry him so he can gain citizenship but Mork refuses as he doesn't want her to "waste" the experience of getting married. Eventually they settle on having Mork's friend Exidor adopt Mork and gain citizenship that way. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dbb6bdf2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dbb6bdf2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mork & Mindy | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dbb6bdf2 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dc88f279 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dc88f279 | comment |
This trope is the whole premise of the romantic comedy Green Card. However, the movie played this in a semi-realistic way, making the couple marry without even meeting each other before for the same purely egotistical and convenience reasons that people do it in real life — (he wants the residence; she, money and a document that proves her as married so she can rent her dream home). Even when they move in together in order to disguise the true nature of their relationship (and then fall in love with each other), they can't fool the Immigration Officers, and the movie ends with the (somewhat justifiable) deportation of the male protagonist. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dc88f279 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dc88f279 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Green Card | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dc88f279 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dda0f79e | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dda0f79e | comment |
Katharine and Yasar Gun are accused of this in Official Secrets, but they were from all indications already in love when she married him to keep him from getting deported. He's once nearly deported anyway as retaliation for her leaking GCHQ documents. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dda0f79e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dda0f79e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Official Secrets | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_dda0f79e | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ded1e4f5 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ded1e4f5 | comment |
In The Wayans Bros., Shawn marries an attractive African woman so she can get citizenship. The twist is that they have to convince the immigration official that they're actually in love, which they do by bickering Like an Old Married Couple. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ded1e4f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ded1e4f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Wayans Bros. | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ded1e4f5 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e144ba19 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e144ba19 | comment |
In Dragon Age II, if Hawke pursues a relationship with Merrill, she earns permission from the Kirkwall authorities to move out of the alienage. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e144ba19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e144ba19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon Age II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e144ba19 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e1cc9743 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e1cc9743 | comment |
Nick and Rachel on Shortland Street are an example of the insurance variation of this trope, though it was student allowances rather than insurance that was the incentive for them to get married. While both were New Zealand citizens, they married so that they could defraud the government into giving them a student allowance. Ironically while they did not fall in love or even consummate the marriage (though they did come close when Rachel suffered a bout of Easy Amnesia), they remained legally married onscreen for four years, longer than any other marriage has lasted on the show to date (that is, not counting other married couples who were Put on a Bus). Truth in Television: At the time of the wedding (1995), many New Zealand students were getting married to defraud the government into giving them a student allowance. Being married exempted students from having their parents' income means-tested - if your parents earned over a certain amount, your student allowance amount was cut. |
|
Citizenship Marriage / int_e1cc9743 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e1cc9743 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Shortland Street | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e1cc9743 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e22b4ac3 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e22b4ac3 | comment |
Played with in 2 Broke Girls when Oleg loses his papers and is afraid Sophie thinks he only wants to marry her for his green card. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e22b4ac3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e22b4ac3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
2 Broke Girls | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e22b4ac3 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e44cb505 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e44cb505 | comment |
The UK soap opera Hollyoaks featured a storyline in which Jacqui McQueen, who owed a gang money, was forced to repay her debt by marrying an Eastern European man so he could get a visa to remain in the UK. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e44cb505 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e44cb505 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Hollyoaks | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e44cb505 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e4732abc | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e4732abc | comment |
This is basically the reason John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir married in "Before and After". Her torture while she was being held by the Replicators left her with serious mental problems and she spends most of her time catatonic, but since she is only truly lucid in Atlantis, other members of the expedition proposed that if she was married to John the current plans to make the city a true colony would basically force the IOA to let her stay so that her former colleagues can work on treating her condition. When circumstances send John and Elizabeth travelling back through their lives and they arrive at this moment, Elizabeth- her mind restored by the time travel- is struck by the notion that John is doing all this for her without ever knowing for sure if she loved him in return, and takes the opportunity to make it clear that she genuinely wants to marry him despite the current circumstances. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_e4732abc | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e9a8ee1b | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_e9a8ee1b | comment |
During the Drop the Dead Donkey season 3 storyline involving a straight version of the trope (when George met Anna, a Polish immigrant who his colleagues went to extraordinary lengths to unmask) the trope was also inverted when Joy confessed to being asked by a Bolivian dissident to marry him. Joy being Joy, she was disgusted when it turned out to be a straight offer of love and romance. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_ea4f62db | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ea4f62db | comment |
Family Guy: In one episode, Peter is facing deportation (he was technically born in Mexico) and the citizenship officer asks him questions about Lois to make sure it's not one of these... he winds up failing because he's such a bad husband he doesn't know the right answer to any of her questions. The fact Peter's mother is American, thus making him one by birth, was never brought up as a way to keep him from deportation. In another episode, Meg travels to Russia, then marries a local. At the end of the episode, the pair plan to head to America, and the new husband reveals to a bartender that he only married Meg so he could move to America. Unfortunately for him, Meg overhears this and uses the man's phone to criticize the Russian government, thus getting him in deep trouble. |
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Family Guy | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ea4f62db | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_eca0c08 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_eca0c08 | comment |
The Bold and the Beautiful might be the only example where the couple in question was genuinely in love with each other and had to convince the INS that their Fourth-Date Marriage wasn't an example of this trope. | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_eca0c08 | featureApplicability |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_ef7a115 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ef7a115 | comment |
In the future presented in Terra Nova, there are apparently "lottery marriages", where single men who are lucky enough to win a ticket to one of the Pilgrimages are offered marriage by single women who are desperate to get a ticket for themselves. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_ef7a115 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f0a86c12 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f0a86c12 | comment |
Subverted by How I Met Your Mother. When Robin learns her work visa is about to expire, the gang frantically try to come up with ways to keep her in the USA and this is one the first things they think of. Barney, who's secretly in love with Robin, drops to one knee about to propose when Marshall realizes that there isn't enough time to process the paperwork on a marriage before the visa expires at the end of the week. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_f0a86c12 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f0f42c45 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f0f42c45 | comment |
Hold Back the Dawn (1941), in which a European gigolo romances a gullible American schoolteacher in order to gain entry into the United States. | |
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Hold Back the Dawn | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f0f42c45 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f31d7d98 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f31d7d98 | comment |
In the Drawn Together episode "Foxxy vs. the Board of Education", Spanky Ham gay married Xandir in order to obtain free health insurance. | |
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Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f5799bd9 | comment |
In The Critic: From the second episode, when two foreign cab drivers crash into each other. |
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The Critic | hasFeature |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f5799bd9 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f6c05e8e | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_f6c05e8e | comment |
In Friends, Phoebe married a gay ice dancer so he could stay in the country. He shows to ask her for a divorce so he can get remarried for real to another woman. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_f6c05e8e | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_fca92f33 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_fca92f33 | comment |
Nicole Kidman plays a Russian Mail-Order bride in Birthday Girl who was presumably motivated by this. Things get more complicated. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_fca92f33 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_fdd5c1d6 | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_fdd5c1d6 | comment |
In Margin for Error, Denny promises to marry Sophie so she won't be extradited to Germany for murdering her husband. | |
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Citizenship Marriage / int_fdd5c1d6 | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ff7b68ba | type |
Citizenship Marriage | |
Citizenship Marriage / int_ff7b68ba | comment |
This is how Mac and Quon Le's marriage got started on Night Court. Mac only meant it as a quick stopgap to keep Quon Le from being deported until her paperwork could go through, but when he realized that a) she hadn't understood that and b) she was in love with him, he suggested that they should get to know each other better and see how things progressed from there. It soon turned into a solid relationship. | |
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