51-year-old Jaiprakash Gulvady acknowledged obtaining citizenship illegally, falsifying information on a passport application, and utilising it.
A Florida-based Indian American man entered a guilty plea to naturalisation and passport fraud. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 51-year-old Land O’ Lakes resident Jaiprakash Gulvady admitted to obtaining citizenship or naturalisation illegally, misusing proof of citizenship or naturalisation, lying on a passport application, and using a passport obtained through deceit.
In 2001, Gulvady entered the nation using a temporary business visa. He wed an American citizen in 2007. However, less than a year later, they divorced. Nevertheless, Gulvady wed another American citizen less than two weeks after the divorce. In June 2009, he changed his immigration status based on that marriage and became a lawful permanent resident. He made his first trip to India since arriving in the United States two months later. He wed an Indian woman while he was there. He and his Indian spouse became pregnant on a later trip to India, and their first and only child was born in January 2011.
His 2013 marriage to his American citizen wife ended as a result of this. The following year, Gulvady “filed an application for naturalization and falsely stated that he was not currently married, that he did not have any children, and that he had never been married to more than one person at the same time,” said a press release from the Department of Justice.
Based on that application, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in August 2014. Using his fraudulently obtained Certificate of Naturalization as evidence of U.S. citizenship, he applied for a U.S. passport and falsely omitted his Indian spouse. He used his U.S. passport to reenter the United States on at least three occasions.
The maximum sentence for Gulvady is ten years in federal prison. When he is sentenced, his U.S. citizenship will automatically be revoked due to his conviction for illegally obtaining citizenship or naturalisation. There is no set date for sentencing yet.
With support from the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) looked into this case. Assistant US Attorney Risha Asokan is leading the prosecution.
