A final order under INA 274C, the civil penalty statute for immigration document fraud, can cost up to $11,823 per document, put a lawful permanent resident into removal proceedings, and permanently bar a noncitizen from returning to the United States. The fines are only the visible part. The immigration consequences attach automatically once the order goes final, and the window to fight back is short.
What Conduct the Statute Reaches
INA 274C, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1324c, covers four kinds of conduct, and each fraudulent document or prohibited act is a separate violation with its own penalty.
- Forging, altering, or fabricating a document to satisfy an immigration requirement or obtain an immigration benefit.
- Knowingly using, possessing, accepting, or providing a forged or falsely made document for immigration purposes.
- Using a real, lawfully issued document that belongs to someone else, such as presenting another person’s work authorization card during employment verification.
- Preparing or submitting an immigration application or supporting document that contains a false statement or material misrepresentation.
The first three require that you acted knowingly. The fourth reaches reckless conduct as well, which is why it sweeps in paid preparers who file applications without verifying what is in them.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1324c – Penalties for Document Fraud
How Much the Fines Run
The dollar amounts in the statute are adjusted for inflation every year. The current figures apply to violations occurring after November 2, 2015, and they split into two schedules depending on the type of conduct.
For creating, using, possessing, or misusing documents, a first offense carries $590 to $4,730 per document or act. A repeat offender faces $4,730 to $11,823 per document or act.
For false statements or misrepresentations in immigration applications, a first offense runs $500 to $3,988 per document or act. Subsequent offenses run $3,988 to $9,970 per violation.2Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalty Adjustments for Inflation
Every final order also includes a cease-and-desist directive. Violating that order after it becomes final invites an enforcement lawsuit in federal district court, where the validity of the underlying order is no longer open to challenge.3U.S. Department of Justice. INA ACT 274C – Penalties for Document Fraud
The 60-Day Deadline That Decides Everything
Enforcement begins when the government serves a Notice of Intent to Fine (NIF). The NIF is the formal complaint: it lists the specific allegations, cites the legal basis, and states the proposed penalty for each violation.
You have 60 days from service of the NIF to file a written request for a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. Miss that deadline and the government issues a final order with no right of appeal. The proposed penalties in the NIF become binding, as if a judge had entered them against you.4eCFR. 8 CFR Part 270 – Penalties for Document Fraud
This is not a soft deadline. There is no default hearing, no chance to explain afterward, no automatic reset. Silence during those 60 days converts a proposal into a final order, and everything that flows from a final order — the immigration consequences discussed below — follows automatically.
The Hearing and Appeal Track
When you request a hearing on time, the case goes to an Administrative Law Judge within the Department of Justice’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO).5Executive Office for Immigration Review. Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer The government has to prove the violation by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not.6eCFR. 28 CFR Part 68 – Rules of Practice and Procedure for Administrative Hearings Before Administrative Law Judges
An ALJ’s decision does not become final immediately. The Chief Administrative Hearing Officer can modify, vacate, or remand it. If the CAHO takes no action, the ALJ’s order becomes the final agency order 60 days after entry.7Federal Register. Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, Review Procedures
Once the order is final, a person or entity adversely affected has 45 days to file a petition for review in the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals. Miss that window and judicial review is gone.7Federal Register. Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, Review Procedures
What a Final Order Does to Your Immigration Status
For a noncitizen, the money is often the smallest part of the problem. A final 274C order triggers two separate immigration consequences by operation of law.
Under INA 212(a)(6)(F), a person who is the subject of a final 274C order becomes inadmissible. That bars the person from getting a visa, adjusting to lawful permanent residence, or being admitted to the country. The bar does not expire on its own.
Under INA 237(a)(3)(C), a noncitizen who is the subject of a final 274C order is deportable. Someone already inside the United States with lawful status, including a green card holder, can be placed into removal proceedings based on the document fraud finding alone.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1227 – Deportable Aliens
Neither consequence gets its own separate hearing. Both attach the moment the 274C order is final. That is why the 60-day NIF window is the pivotal moment in any 274C case: an unchallenged order does not just cost money, it rewrites your immigration status.
The Narrow Waivers
Both grounds have waivers on paper, but they are among the most restrictive in immigration law.
The Attorney General may waive the deportability ground for a lawful permanent resident, but only if the person has never had a prior civil money penalty under INA 274C and the fraud was committed solely to assist the person’s spouse or child, no one else. No court has jurisdiction to review the Attorney General’s decision on this waiver.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1227 – Deportable Aliens
INA 212(d)(12) offers a discretionary waiver of the inadmissibility ground in two situations: for lawful permanent residents who traveled abroad temporarily and are seeking readmission, and for people applying as immediate relatives or family-sponsored immigrants, again only if the fraud was solely to help the applicant’s spouse or child and there is no prior 274C penalty.9U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 302.9 – Ineligibility Based on Illegal Entry
Both waivers are discretionary, so meeting the technical requirements does not guarantee approval. If the fraud was for any purpose other than helping a spouse or child, or if there is a prior 274C penalty, neither waiver is available.
When the Criminal Statute Also Applies
INA 274C is civil enforcement. It does not exhaust the government’s options. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1546, criminal immigration document fraud carries up to 10 years in prison for a first or second offense, up to 20 years when tied to drug trafficking, and up to 25 years when the fraud facilitates terrorism. Using false identification documents to establish employment eligibility carries up to five years.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1546 – Fraud and Misuse of Visas, Permits, and Other Documents
The two tracks are not mutually exclusive. A person can face both a civil 274C proceeding and a criminal prosecution under § 1546 for the same conduct, and settling one does not resolve the other.
Employers and Paid Preparers
Businesses come into 274C exposure when they knowingly accept fraudulent documents during Form I-9 employment verification or otherwise participate in a document fraud scheme. Completing the I-9 process in good faith is a defense against a charge of knowingly hiring unauthorized workers, but the defense collapses if the government can prove actual knowledge of the fraud.11USCIS. 11.8 Penalties for Prohibited Practices
Paid preparers, including immigration consultants and notarios, get their own subsection. Under INA 274C(a)(5), it is unlawful to prepare, file, or assist in preparing any immigration application while knowing or recklessly disregarding that it is falsely made. Civil penalties follow the false-application schedule.3U.S. Department of Justice. INA ACT 274C – Penalties for Document Fraud
A preparer who knowingly conceals having prepared or assisted with a fraudulent application also faces criminal fines under Title 18, up to five years in prison, and a permanent ban from preparing immigration applications. The criminal exposure sits on top of the civil penalties.
How Long the Government Has
The general federal statute of limitations for civil penalty proceedings gives the government five years from the date of the violation to bring a 274C action. The clock only runs while the person or their property can be found within the United States for service of process.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2462 – Time for Commencing Proceedings
In practice, someone who committed document fraud and left the country can still face enforcement years later on returning, because the limitations period effectively pauses while they are outside U.S. jurisdiction.