WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Waterloo brother and sister set up a sham marriage so he wouldn’t have to leave the United States. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Selmir Salkanovic and his sister, Salena Dedic, were arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Salkanovic also pleaded not guilty to marriage fraud.

Court records say Salkanovic is a Bosnian who overstayed his tourist visa. He’d promised to leave the country in June last year but instead, with his sister’s help, married a U.S. citizen after making a $5,000 deal with her. Federal law lets immigrants who marry U.S. citizens to receive conditional residency status, which can be upgraded to permanent residency after two years and then citizenship five years after that.

The records say Salkanovic and the woman never consummated the marriage and never lived together. It’s unclear whether the woman’s been charged.