Pakistani Subject to criminal investigation by USCIS

Alleged U.S. immigration fraud and marriage fraud

By U.S. Global News Investigations – Special Report

WASHINGTON DC – USCIS is a federal agency of the U.S. Homeland Security Department charged with overseeing the lawful immigration to the United States. In the U.S., the current Trump administration has been focusing on aggressively rooting out violators of U.S. immigration laws and this has become a cornerstone of his presidency. Recently in the news, going to such lengths as sending violators to notorious prison camps in countries such as Venezuela as a message to the public to show how serious they are about prosecuting offenders. There has been a renewed and heavy focus on Immigration fraud in particular as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration. Prosecution of Immigration violators is the utmost priority.

Calculated Fraud and Malignant Behavior: USCIS Investigates Mariya Uzair

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, is conducting an investigation into Pakistani national Mariya Uzair. She has gone under the aliases: Maria Uzair, Mariya Zaman, Mariya Noman, Mariya Shah. She  is believed to have committed deliberate, orchestrated immigration fraud with the full knowledge and support of the false information by her immediate family. The investigation and potential criminal charge is based on fraudulent misrepresentation of material facts in order to gain immigration benefit. More specifically, the possible charge is related to marriage fraud by deceiving a U.S. citizen into believing their marriage is genuine when her true intent was only to gain immigration benefits. Purportedly, if the truth behind such false statements were known, the U.S. Citizen sponsor would have never married her.

Federal sources confirm that Uzair’s U.S. immigration petition, filed under the name “Mariya Zaman,” was approved based on a marriage to a U.S. citizen. However, new evidence suggests that the marriage was fraudulent from its inception. USCIS investigators allege that Uzair never intended to build a real relationship but instead used the marriage as a tool to gain immigration benefits through calculated deception.

The case is now being reviewed not only as a violation of immigration law, but as a larger pattern of criminal intent. The visa is making its way through the system to be voided, but federal officials state unequivocally: the fraud was already committed the moment the application was submitted based on false pretenses.

Illicit Marriage: A Coordinated Deception with Legal Ramifications Under Pakistani and Islamic Law

But while the immigration fraud alone would be grounds for criminal referral and permanent banishment from the U.S., the real scandal begins with what happened next: an illegal, overlapping second marriage that appears not only planned—but executed with no conscience whatsoever.

Newly unearthed court documents from Pakistan reveal that a khula (divorce) order pertaining to Mariya Uzair—was officially issued by a Pakistani family court. However, only 9 days after the order was signed, she attempted to enter into another marriage, dated within the iddah period—the mandatory post-divorce waiting period for Muslim women under Islamic law. This new evidence names Mustufa Shah as the groom, a colleague at Eleganz Luxury, the parent company of Mariya Uzair’s employer, Malak Pakistan. Circumventing this waiting period constitutes a criminal offense under the Pakistan Penal Code punishable for up to 7 years in prison for both.

Under Pakistani law, such conduct constitutes a criminal offense. According to the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (Act XLV of 1860), Section 496,

“Whoever, dishonestly or with a fraudulent intention, goes through the ceremony of being married, knowing that he is not thereby lawfully married, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

“The iddah period is not symbolic—it is binding, it is a covenant with God” said Barrister Shahmeer Tariq, a Shariah legal advisor. “Entering into a new marriage during this time is not just illegal—it’s a direct rejection of religious jurisprudence and a rejection of the word of God itself. In Islam this is a direct act of kufr (disbelief) that takes that person outside the fold of Islam.” According to credible witnesses, Mariya Uzair made such a statement publicly, rejecting the law of observing the iddah period. Possibly fabricating a religious edict to suit her agenda thereby avoiding public scrutiny.

“In any lawful society—Islamic or Western—mere separation from a spouse without divorce being final does not justify or permit immediately pursuing a marriage with another man. When a woman has such a casual view of infidelity, what does that say about her if she can jump from being wed to one man and in mere weeks to another? People operate in patterns, this was likely a pattern that repeated itself throughout her life with other men but outside the public view, it just now had progressed to being executed in marriages and more publicly. Clearly a symptom of a collapsing sociopath deepening in their disorder.” Said an expert on Infidelity’s impact on society.

Religious scholars and legal professionals agree: any marriage during iddah is null and void, and can result in charges of adultery—a crime punishable by severe penalties under Pakistan’s Hudood Ordinances.

What follows is almost impossible to believe. Newly unearthed evidence reveals that Mariya Uzair and Mustafa Shah deliberately delayed registering their marriage with NADRA — waiting 107 days after her family court khula order before updating her national identity card to reflect Shah as her new husband. The timing was no accident: by waiting just past the 90-day mark, the pair created the appearance of compliance with the legally required iddah period. In doing so, Mariya signed a new marriage contract while presenting an identity card still bearing her former husband’s name — identifying herself as Mariya Zaman, the wife of another man. Because she never notified the Union Council where her prior marriage is registered — a legal requirement she conspicuously ignored, as doing so could have obstructed the union entirely — her first marriage remains legally intact in the eyes of the Pakistani government to this day. What this amounts to is bigamy, a direct violation of Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (Act XLV of 1860), Section 494, carrying a potential prison sentence of seven years for both the bride and the groom.

Disturbingly, Uzair’s own father gave permission for the unlawful marriage as her guardian. Legal experts say this marks a high level of premeditation and familial complicity, suggesting the illegal union was plotted long before her divorce was finalized.

Furthermore, religious scholars and legal professionals agree under traditional Islamic jurisprudence (Shariah), any marital relationship entered into during the iddat is null and void.

“This is a knowing and deliberate violation of law—both divine and constitutional. It implicates not just the bride and groom, but also those who witnessed and sanctioned it, including her family and friends.” said Barrister Zainab Arif, a Karachi-based family law attorney.

A Web of Lies: The Affair Behind the Illegal Marriage

Records reviewed by U.S. Global News Investigations indicate that during the period of her marriage to the U.S. Citizen sponsor, Mariya Uzair was already romantically involved with Mustafa Shah, her future third husband. Eyewitnesses report that the two would routinely spend a great deal of time together during work hours at Eleganz/Malak offices and sources say they spent time together intimately outside the office despite both being legally married to other people, all this without the knowledge of their spouses. While both were employed at Malak Pakistan and it’s parent company, Eleganz Luxury. Shah, himself married at the time, filed for divorce around the time of Mariya Uzair’s separation with her then husband—an act that appears to have been coordinated between the two to enable their union.

Investigators allege that her immediate family facilitated her relationship with Mustafa Shah while she was still married to the U.S. citizen sponsor. Such coordination suggests a family-supported conspiracy to commit fraud, perjury, and adultery—crimes that violate the tenets of Pakistani criminal law. The moral and legal gravity of this betrayal, executed behind the back of Mariya Uzair’s then-husband, cannot be overstated. It is a grotesque subversion of spousal trust, law, and religious obligation, orchestrated in coordination with her family and Mustafa Shah’s family. The moral and legal gravity of this betrayal, executed behind the back of Mariya Uzair’s then-husband, cannot be overstated. It is a grotesque subversion of trust, law, and religious obligation, orchestrated in coordination with her family and Mustafa Shah’s family. It is a moral and legal violation of the highest order.

In any lawful society—be it Islamic or Western—mere separation does not entitle one to even plan for another marriage without formal and legal dissolution of the previous marriage. Such conduct reveals not only a contempt for the law but a disturbing reflection of the immoral characters of both prospective husband and wife.

The most jarring potential criminal act alleged is bigamy. It is alleged that the marriage between Mariya Uzair and Mustufa Shah occurring just 9 days of the court decree was non-existent due to the fact that she was technically still married to her previous husband. This charge alone voids this illegal marriage.

“The timeline doesn’t just imply intent—it screams it,” said Susan Vega, a former DHS intelligence analyst specializing in cross-border marriage fraud. “Two people, both married, carrying on an affair, then synchronizing their divorces, and immediately entering an illegal marriage. That’s not romance—it’s organized fraud and morally disgusting.

A Disturbing Psychological Profile

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of this case is what mental health professionals have observed from documents, testimony, and behavioral patterns attributed to Mariya Uzair. Two licensed psychologists consulted in connection with the investigation described severe and dangerous psychopathology. According to a U.S.-based forensic psychologist who consults on immigration cases, Uzair exhibits rare but highly dangerous behavioral traits.

“She presents with symptoms consistent with malignant narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, and what we call dual cluster B comorbidity—psychopathy and sociopathy occurring simultaneously. Individuals like this lie instinctively. They manipulate without guilt. And they often escalate.”

Though not a clinical diagnosis in a court setting, the observations are deeply troubling. Psychological evaluations conducted by independent mental health professionals revealed symptoms aligning with DSM-5 criteria for:

• Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD): A disregard for rules, laws, and social norms; persistent lying and manipulation; lack of empathy or remorse. They don’t lie out of necessity. They lie out of compulsion and control.

• Malignant Narcissism: Marked by extreme entitlement, pathological lying, manipulation of others, and a complete inability to recognize or care about the consequences of her actions on others. Evaluators describe her as “deeply self-serving with delusional confidence in her invincibility.”
• Clinical Psychopathy: As measured by Dr. Robert Hare’s PCL-R, with traits such as pathological lying, lack of remorse, and impulsivity. Indicators include calculated deceit, absence of empathy, lack of remorse, emotional detachment, and enjoyment of control over others. One evaluator noted, “She displays classic signs of ‘instrumental aggression’—emotional detachment used as a weapon to dominate, deceive, and destroy without conscience.”
• Sociopathic Traits: Persistent disregard for legal and moral boundaries, impulsive risk-taking masked by charm and surface-level social skills. Multiple interviewees describe her as capable of appearing “pleasant and composed” in public, while privately exhibiting volatile, threatening behavior toward those she cannot control.
• Delusional Grandiosity:  A deeply ingrained belief that she above everybody around her, the most attractive and desirable person in the world but in her core deeply insecure.

According to Dr. Bandy X. Lee (Yale University, Dept. of Psychiatry):

“When narcissistic personality traits co-occur with antisocial behaviors and manipulative tendencies, the individual often believes themselves invincible—immune to social or legal consequences.”

Attorneys and investigators  reviewed portions of Uzair’s second divorce affidavit, describing it as “incoherent, emotionally immature, and disturbing in tone which includes incoherent ramblings and childish sentence construction that further underscore a potential cognitive dissonance or functional illiteracy.”

“The language is childlike and accusatory, devoid of structure or self-awareness,” an expert in the field said. “This is not someone experiencing emotional distress. This is someone with a severely underdeveloped moral framework, typical of individuals who exhibit entitlement-driven behavior and an inability to perceive themselves as blameworthy.” He added “When an individual of this nature makes accusations such as those in the affidavit, they are in fact the very things they know about themselves and are deeply ashamed of. It’s called projecting, meaning, projecting all of their own deficiencies onto another without basis. When you see accusations from such a person, if you read carefully, those accusations are actually confessions about themselves.”

“In our work with narcissistic abuse survivors, we consistently see a pattern where the new partner is chosen for their weak character,” says Dr. Elaine Mercer, a clinical psychologist specializing in personality disorders. When a narcissist discards a partner, it’s rarely due to conflict, incompatibility, or any failure on the part of the one discarded” Dr. Mercer explains. “In reality, it’s a calculated move—prepped long before the exit, with one goal: securing a more compliant source of validation. Often, in secret, they’ve already secured someone new, someone she was able to easily seduce. The new supply is often a dramatic downgrade in every sense: intellectually, emotionally, even physically. Where the former partner was self-aware, discerning, and strong-willed, the new supply is typically naive, approval-seeking, and weak. It’s like trading a king for a peasant.”

She goes on to further explain, “The narcissist would rather reign over a fool than stand beside a king. Culturally, we might call him a simp. “He believes he’s been chosen,” Dr. Mercer explains. “In reality, he’s been recruited—handpicked for his emotional weakness. He’s paraded around as proof that the narcissist is desirable, even victorious. When a narcissist jumps into something as significant as another marriage with a new partner thereby abandoning monumental opportunities she had with the previous partner, such as a coveted life in a western country, it’s likely to punish her previous partner. It’s hard to imagine but yes, but this is the true nature of a narcissist. Why punish? Well, it’s simple, he likely saw the real person behind the mask, challenged the lies and that was unforgivable.”

Another expert on personality disorder explains “We see among narcissists that they don’t want to raise children, the child is simply a new toy, but when it comes to the hard work, they will quickly and without remorse abandon their child and re-enter their lives when it’s easy for them to parade their child. They want to portray the illusion of being a good parent”.

Control, Fear, and Family Silence

Interviews with individuals close to the family suggest that Uzair has long ruled her domestic and social environment through emotional coercion and fear-based silence.

“She controls everything,” said a person familiar with the family, speaking on condition of anonymity. “People in her family don’t correct her. They’re afraid of her temper, her revenge. No one told her ‘no’ growing up—ever.”

Experts say this kind of generational enabling is common in cases of narcissistic dysfunction.

“In households where a disordered individual is never corrected or challenged,” Dr. Reiner explains, “you create a feedback loop that amplifies their pathology. The result is someone who lives as though they’re invincible—beyond the law, beyond shame, beyond remorse.”

A Pattern of a Predator, Not a One-Time Offender

What makes this case particularly egregious is the repeat nature of the misconduct. Uzair’s behavior shows a sustained pattern of deception, fabrication, and legal evasion that extends across borders, institutions, and even religious codes. Her manipulation appears not only to have targeted the U.S. immigration system, but also individuals in her personal life—grooming, deceiving, and discarding them when they no longer served her objectives.

According to interviews with former acquaintances and individuals close to the investigation, Uzair:

• Controlled family and friends through threats, guilt, and manipulation;
• Exhibited an obsession with firearms;
• Has a history of alcohol and drug abuse dating back to her first marriage;

Experts warn that Uzair’s known history of substance abuse, erratic behavior, and fascination with weapons make her “a serious potential threat, not just legally—but physically.”

Inside the Disturbing Mental Decline of Mariya Uzair

Public records and witness testimony have begun to expose what can only be described as a full-scale psychological unraveling. Nowhere is this more chillingly evident than in the publicly available affidavit filed by Mariya Uzair during her divorce to the U.S. Citizen sponsor—a document so jarringly incoherent, disjointed, and childlike in structure that it raises immediate and serious concerns about her mental state and capacity for truth. The statements are reportedly written in incoherent language, lack internal logic, and appear to reflect emotional instability and cognitive disorganization—far removed from what would be expected in legal filings of this nature.

Psychiatric experts consulted for this report were unanimous in their initial impression: the language and reasoning patterns present in Uzair’s legal filing resemble those of an emotionally stunted adolescent, not a legally responsible adult. Dr. Fiona Hartwell, a forensic psychologist specializing in personality disorders, remarked, “This level of disorganization, paired with a clear detachment from cause-and-effect reasoning, is often associated with traits seen in Cluster B personality disorders, particularly narcissistic and histrionic subtypes” (Hartwell, 2023, Journal of Forensic Psychology). “She can’t even write a coherent affidavit,” said one source who reviewed the affidavit. “It reads like a 3rd grader’s diary. And yet she has the confidence to commit fraud, blatantly violate Islamic and Pakistani laws and destroy lives.”

More disturbing still is the origin story that emerges from an analysis of Uzair’s academic history. According to records obtained, she demonstrated chronic academic failure—possible due to incapacity, but also an unwillingness to engage with even the most basic scholastic standards. She simply refused to participate. And tragically, no one in her orbit dared challenge her.

“This is not someone who was raised with healthy boundaries,” says education policy analyst Dr. Michael Reed. “When a child grows up in an environment where the word ‘no’ is never spoken to them, they don’t learn frustration tolerance. They don’t learn self-restraint. And in extreme cases like this, they grow up to weaponize entitlement” (American Review of Educational Psychology, 2024).

In Mariya Uzair’s case, that weaponization became a shield—one that insulated her from correction, accountability, or consequence. Her inability to spell common words or use language correctly, even into adulthood, is not simply an educational failure—it’s a symptom of systemic fear and silence cultivated around her. Multiple individuals interviewed (who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation) describe a climate of “walking on eggshells,” where any criticism—even constructive—was met with explosive denial, emotional blackmail, or outright exile. This silent complicity allowed Uzair to evolve unchecked into a figure of manipulation and menace—one who appears to believe she is both invincible and untouchable.

 “When someone genuinely believes they are above reproach, the line between immoral and illegal becomes irrelevant to them” (attorney and legal ethicist Sarah Klein, Harvard Law Bulletin, 2024).

Whether this is the unraveling of a pathological narcissist or the implosion of someone teetering on the brink of a mental health breakdown remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is this: Mariya Uzair’s descent is not merely personal—it is systemic, and enabled by a culture of silence, fear, and impunity.

USCIS Reaction and Global Fallout

The USCIS fraud referral report is believed to already be in processing, with the I-130 petition now moved to adjudication status post-approval. Though the application has been invalidated, experts note that the crime has already been committed — a point that USCIS takes seriously under the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i).

At this stage, USCIS has not confirmed any formal charges. However, the case may result in long-term immigration consequences.

Even without a conviction, Uzair faces:

• Lifetime inadmissibility to the United States
• Entry into INTERPOL, EUROPOL SIS II and regional security databases
• Visa bans in allied countries under intelligence-sharing protocols

Even absent a conviction, the stain of immigration fraud is indelible—it brands the subject permanently in U.S. federal systems. With increasing cooperation between U.S. and allied intelligence units, the impact of such fraud now extends well beyond U.S. borders.

“Most people have no idea how interconnected immigration security systems are,” said a senior official. “The moment you trigger fraud flags in one country; your name becomes toxic everywhere.”

“What people fail to understand,” said Dr. Monica Reilly, Professor of Global Immigration Law at Georgetown University, “is that visa fraud has global ripple effects. It’s not just about one country anymore.”

According to former DHS intelligence analyst Susan Vega, even an allegation of marriage fraud—particularly one supported by material evidence and cross-national documentation—can trigger lifelong bans from U.S. entry and result in global visa watchlisting.

“This kind of case doesn’t stay quiet,” said Vega. “It gets passed to Interpol, to the Five Eyes, to Schengen countries. We’re talking about a global alert footprint here. It may not happen immediately, but it will sneak up on you when you least expect it”

Fraud of this nature is viewed not simply as a legal offense, but as a threat to the integrity of national borders and institutional trust. USCIS and DHS have reiterated a zero-tolerance stance toward such offenses.

U.S. marriage fraud has been prosecuted, inter alia, under 8 U.S.C. § 1325 and 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a). The Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Act of 1986 amended § 1325 by adding § 1325(c), which provides a possible penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine if prosecuted in the U.S. In matters regarding a foreign national in their home country, coordination would be made between the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and Pakistani law enforcement authorities for local prosecution on behalf of the U.S. government.

How law enforcement conducts arrests related to immigration may occur overseas:

• Collaboration with foreign governments: U.S. law enforcement agencies like ICE can work with foreign law enforcement agencies to pursue fugitives or those involved in transnational crime.

Final Word

The story of Mariya Uzair serves as a grave warning to those who believe they can manipulate the U.S. immigration system with impunity. But it’s also an indictment of the environments—familial, educational, societal—that allow such individuals to go unchecked for decades.

In the words of one DHS officer:

“You can lie on paper. You can fake a marriage. You can even trick a visa officer. But sooner or later, the system will catch up. And when it does—it doesn’t knock, it crushes your entire world”

Investigative assistance was obtained from the Daily Pakistan News (dailypakistannews.com) based in Karachi, Pakistan. Certain identifying details and sequences have been adapted solely for clarity and narrative flow. The events described reflect dynamics observed across private and public responses, as conveyed through verified correspondence and personal accounts. Follow-ups to this article as updates surface will be coming soon.

Have a tip related to immigration fraud? Contact U.S. Global News Investigations confidentially at: investigations@usglobalnews.com or contact the USCIS tip line directly at 1-866-DHS-2ICE