18 U.S.C. § 1546
Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents
United States · Title 18 — CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · Status: effective
Cite this
- Citation
- 18 U.S.C. § 1546, Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/449266
- Permanent ID
ys:prov:449266@1- SHA-256
6ee53c21813b7fbacc8d8ef1a2f8aa30278af52c7a03facfa26d25b616def4cd
The hash is SHA-256 of this version's text, with every run of whitespace collapsed to a single space and the ends trimmed. The ID always leads back here, and checking it says whether the text you cited is still the current version.
Full text
Whoever, except under direction of the Attorney General or the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or other proper officer, knowingly possesses any blank permit, or engraves, sells, brings into the United States, or has in his control or possession any plate in the likeness of a plate designed for the printing of permits, or makes any print, photograph, or impression in the likeness of any immigrant or nonimmigrant visa, permit or other document required for entry into the United States, or has in his possession a distinctive paper which has been adopted by the Attorney General or the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for the printing of such visas, permits, or documents; or
Whoever, when applying for an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa, permit, or other document required for entry into the United States, or for admission to the United States personates another, or falsely appears in the name of a deceased individual, or evades or attempts to evade the immigration laws by appearing under an assumed or fictitious name without disclosing his true identity, or sells or otherwise disposes of, or offers to sell or otherwise dispose of, or utters, such visa, permit, or other document, to any person not authorized by law to receive such document; or
Whoever knowingly makes under oath, or as permitted under penalty of perjury under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, knowingly subscribes as true, any false statement with respect to a material fact in any application, affidavit, or other document required by the immigration laws or regulations prescribed thereunder, or knowingly presents any such application, affidavit, or other document which contains any such false statement or which fails to contain any reasonable basis in law or fact—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this title)), 10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense, if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime), or 15 years (in the case of any other offense), or both.
Whoever uses—
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.
- A bill to permit the use of unsworn declarations under penalty of perjury as evidence in Federal proceedings.House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Immigration Technical Corrections Act of 1988House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Crime Control Act of 1990House: 313–1Senate: no recorded tally
- Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
- Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997
- Economic Espionage Act of 1996House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization ActHouse: 400–4Senate: no recorded tally