March 2015 K-1 Filers

[TravandLhen 23]

I got my RFE paperwork in the mail today. Get ready for this....

International Marriage Broker (IMB)

"The evidence submitted indicates that you may have met the beneficiary through the services of an International Marriage Broker (IMB). You stated that you met the beneficiary through a dating website. Although your answer to question 35 on the fiancee' petition indicates that you did not meet the beneficiary through the services of an international marriage broker, you did not establish that the website is not an international marriage broker as defined by regulations. An International Marriage Broker is considered a business that charges fees for providing dating, matromonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens and foreign nationals. As such, you must submit a copy of the signed written consent form that the International Marriage Broker obtained from the beneficiary authorizing the release of her personal contact information to you, or documentations to establish that the website is not an international marriage broker."

OK, we met on Cherry Blossoms just like numerous others here have and had no issue. Apparently we got a trainee that is reading (and misinterpreting) the IMBRA law and must be his/her first day on the job. Cherry Blossoms is essentially a personals website and NOT a marriage broker.

After researching this so I can provide the needed and pertinent documentation, I found out the following:

• Cherry Blossoms does not charge the women a fee.
• The women post their ad and no further personal info. You need to introduce yourself by IM or email first and make contact. It is not arranged. You and your "penpal" take it from there. CB only is only a platform for people to meet and the rest is up to you.
• CB is exempt from IMBRA as it is worldwide and men (and women) from other countries have the same opportunities as US men to meet the women.
• No personal meetings are arranged. Once the two people meet from their first introduction (also unarranged) to each they are on their own and go from there, usually offsite (YM, Viber, Skype, etc....) After the initial meeting, Cherry Blossoms' involvement ends. We met July 2012 and closed our profiles about a month later. So for over 2 1/2 years we have had zero involvement from CB.

This was a response to the issue that I found from Cherry Blossoms on another message board:

"We do not consider our company a marriage agency because we do not charge the women nor do we charge couples that end up marrying who have met on our web site. Our government has written a very broad definition of Marriage Broker that includes almost all companies where men and women meet either on line or in person.

We have found that when our K-1 and K-3 visa clients call the USICS for clarification they are usually told that web sites like ours are not considered marriage brokers.

The intent was to make women safer and reduce fraud from marriage agencies in other countries that charge men and women for introductions. There are marriage agencies in other countries that charge the women up to $10,000 to marry a U.S. citizen. These companies profit from the marriage whether it is a valid marriage or not. These companies have an agenda in making the marriage happen. With companies like ours we are not compensated if you meet and marry someone on line.

Hope this gives you some clarification. If you would like to call the USCIS their number is 800-XXX-XXXX and at the voice prompts push 1, 2, 3, & 6 to get to the correct department.

If you need our assistance with a Fiancée Visa petition please let us know. We have assisted with over 700 petitions since the law went into effect without any problems relating to IMBRA. The U.S. government does have you complete a form that discloses past criminal history and domestic violence charges."

And here is the exemption info:

"Please be advised that section 4 (B) (ii) of IMBRA exempts dating

companies whose principal business is not to provide dating services

between US citizens and foreign nationals so long as it charges comparable

rates and offers comparable services to all individuals regardless of

gender or country of citizenship. Consequently our company is exempt as it

falls within this exemption (as do many other large dating companies)."

So, my thoughts are to print off the following from their website:

"Cherryblossoms.com is the leading Asian dating website. You can join for free today and view over 61,000 single women and over 11,000 single men- Thousands of profiles with pictures. With a free membership, you can create your profile, send smiles, view member profiles, get personalized matches, and ask top ten questions. Take a few minutes to become a member of Cherry Blossoms and start browsing through our profiles and see thousands of single Chinese, Filipino, Thai and Vietnamese Women who are looking for online dating, love and romance.

Is Cherry Blossoms a Mail Order Bride Service?

NO! Cherry Blossoms, Inc. is NOT a Mail Order Bride service: Our goal is to provide a safe platform for singles to place their personal ads and meet for fun, friendship and online romance. We provide our members with an opportunity to connect online by email, chat and instant messenger, so they can get to know one another without risking their privacy or exposing confidential information."

So, correct me if I am wrong - this should be easily corrected and some misinformed worker at CSC just wasted about 3-4 weeks of our time between NOA1 and NOA2.

GRRRRR!!

Hmmm, well I guess I need to be prepared for an RFE as well. I met my fiancé on Okcupid an online dating site just like CherryBlossom. I didn't specify anything only that it is an online dating site. I guess I better get my info started now. Sigh.....

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

luckily did we met in a pub

[Farrieress 18]

This is what I put on my letter of intent. I wonder if they will ask to specify which site.

I met my fiance ............... in July of 2013, when I was searching for a better

method to learn the Russian language. I had searched several different international

chat sites hoping to find someone native to the language that could help.

[Tony and Daisy 22]

We met at a TGIF there. We shouldn't get an RFE.... I hope lol

[gtessier 17]

Hmmm, well I guess I need to be prepared for an RFE as well. I met my fiancé on Okcupid an online dating site just like CherryBlossom. I didn't specify anything only that it is an online dating site. I guess I better get my info started now. Sigh.....

I dont think the rest of you need to get worked up over this. Look it up in search here on VJ and you will see that hundreds of other people have used Cherry Blossoms and stated as such in their applications and no issues. I just got unlocky and got an overzealous adjudicator looking at my paperwork.

[AH_Fury 61]

If you don't mention that you met online, how would they know? I never told them in our application how we met (we both lived in UAE, and didn't think it was relevant). I only put down our last vacation together, which was in November in Malaysia. That is truly all they know about our relationship, other than the pictures and flight information I submitted of our vacations we've taken together in the past year. So they "technically" don't know how we met.

I'm just curious why you would need to add where and how you guys initially met.

Edited April 12, 2015 by hsgx2

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

If you don't mention that you met online, how would they know? I never told them in our application how we met (we both lived in UAE, and didn't think it was relevant). I only put down our last vacation together, which was in November in Malaysia. That is truly all they know about our relationship, other than the pictures and flight information I submitted of our vacations we've taken together in the past year. So they "technically" don't know how we met.

I'm just curious why you would need to add where and how you guys initially met.

we had to mention it as well where we have met

[AH_Fury 61]

we had to mention it as well where we have met

I literally only wrote "We last met in Malaysia on Vacation." I wasn't aware that we had to add where we met. I didn't get an RFE. I guess it's different for every case.

[Gary&Judy 1]

gtessier,

I have been following your case closely because it follows mine very closely. I received and RFE the same day probably at the same as you..... in fact my RFE is the same as yours. Very close anyway.

My RFE states the following

"You stated that you met the beneficiary through Cherryblosso.com. This website may be considered to be an International Marriage Broker (IMB). An International Marriage Broker is a business that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, of social referrals between United States citizens and foreign nationals. Therefore, you are required submit a copy of the signed written consent form that the International Marriage Broker obtained from the beneficiary, **name here**, authorizing the release of his/her personal contact information to you.

As you can see they even spelled the website name wrong. They also mention that the website may be considered an International Marriage Broker. I've been searching for a correct way to respond to this. I have found all the topics that you have mentioned in your post. I would appreciate any insight that anyone might have as to what can be done about this.

[gtessier 17]

If you don't mention that you met online, how would they know? I never told them in our application how we met (we both lived in UAE, and didn't think it was relevant). I only put down our last vacation together, which was in November in Malaysia. That is truly all they know about our relationship, other than the pictures and flight information I submitted of our vacations we've taken together in the past year. So they "technically" don't know how we met.

I'm just curious why you would need to add where and how you guys initially met.

It's called full disclosure and being honest. Eventually not being forthright will catch up to you.

Can you imagine you did not fully disclose how you met on your application and then when the fiancee' is in their interview they tell them on a dating site?

"Which one?"

"Cherry Blossoms"

"I see. This is not on the application. We consider them a marriage broker."

Thank you for playing. He have some lovely parting gifts for our contestants on the way out the door....

So, then how do you fix it? Maybe the only way is to get married and do a CR-1. I don't know.....

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

I literally only wrote "We last met in Malaysia on Vacation." I wasn't aware that we had to add where we met. I didn't get an RFE. I guess it's different for every case.

well duh u met her in person ..so its not literally neccessary to quote where exactly.

but what does this marriage broker mean?

[AH_Fury 61]

It's called full disclosure and being honest. Eventually not being forthright will catch up to you.

Can you imagine you did not fully disclose how you met on your application and then when the fiancee' is in their interview they tell them on a dating site?

"Which one?"

"Cherry Blossoms"

"I see. This is not on the application. We consider them a marriage broker."

Thank you for playing. He have some lovely parting gifts for our contestants on the way out the door....

So, then how do you fix it? Maybe the only way is to get married and do a CR-1. I don't know.....

You're right. In that case, you would need to be very honest. In our case, there's no need to disclose every detail because I actually met him in person when we were kids, and have known each other forever, basically. Online dating can be tricky sometimes. I had no idea it could be this tricky though. Good luck to you two!

[thespoons 33]

To gtessier and gary&judy: so sorry about the RFE

seems like uscis has been overly critical about dating website the past few weeks. There have been some recent posts here on vj regarding the same rfe. Hope some of the other members' responses will help on how you can go about this. good luck!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/541973-proof-fipipinocupid-website-is-not-an-intl-marriage-broker/#entry7537115

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/543824-rfe-demaning-imbra-consent-form-which-i-dont-have/

Edited April 12, 2015 by thespoons

[my11662 0]

Is there anyone here met there fiancée at www.tagged.com? Did u guys any problem with IMB?

[Sabrina&Chuck 32]

anything new folks?