In the interview, one of the things that the USCIS will look to determine that the marriage was not entered into for the primary purpose of procuring immigration benefits. There are limited exceptions from the joint filing requirement if the conditional LPR spouse establishes that the marriage was terminated or that he or she was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by the U.S. citizen spouse (or if the U.S. citizen spouse was in a bigamous relationship), and the marriage was entered into in good faith.Finally, persons who previously gained status through marriage may be required to establish the bona fides of the previous marriage in order to be subsequently accorded status.What is a “Bona Fide” Marriage?The key consideration in determining whether a marriage is bona fide is “whether the bride and groom intended to establish a life together at the time they were married” (see the Matter of Laureano, 19 I&N Dec. 1, 2-3 (BIA 1983)). The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held in the Matter of Peterson, 12 I&N Dec. 663 (BIA 1968) that a marriage need not have all of the ideal “hallmarks” of a marriage in order to be bona fide.