[Josem]

I've seen and heard of similar efforts in people trying to get into Australia.

While I'm obviously unfamiliar with the US experience, the Australian detection method seems exceptionally good - requiring things like wedding photos, evience of joint financial arrangeents, and other stuff that every married couple has, but very few others have. This applies to all applying couples. It's not simply a matter of claiming marriage - but rather, proving it to a reasonable immigration official.

I've heard claims similar to TeddyFBI's - that people from different nationalities are treated differently, but I've never actually seen any evidence of this genuinely happening.

(also, whoever said that the US has the toughest immigration policy in the world is simply talking crap - it is one of the most accepting of migrants. it is really only the anglo-western nations (UK, USA, Australia, Canada, NZ, etc. and europe that accept migrants in any significant size, besides obviously disaster refugee movements.)