March 2015 K-1 Filers

[Amhara 460]

Just to throw in my two cents on the marriage broker/dating site RFE's, I printed off screen prints on our first conversations on Facebook because when we got engaged, I met with two different immigration lawyers and was told that meeting on a dating site could come under the marriage brokerage act. I wanted to make it clear that our petition wasn't subject to that law.

If the lawyer mentioned dating sites to me, then others must have had problems with it, but probably more in TSC. Other threads are suggesting that there have been new adjudicators hired for TSC, so they may be told to get this information, or who knows what else.

May the RFE's be resolved quickly!!!!!

[chrisinla24 1]

^{HEY GUYS, WHAT IS REF ?}

[Amhara 460]

^{HEY GUYS, WHAT IS REF ?}

Is actual RFE - request for evidence

When the reviewer feels that your petition doesn't meet all the criteria, they give you one more chance to provide information about whatever that missing piece is.

For the marriage brokerage act RFE's, they need to prove that neither the US petitioner or the foreign beneficiary paid a marriage broker.

[gtessier 17]

"REF" is the guy at a football game wearing the striped shirt.

"RFE" is Request For Evidence. Its when an application is incomplete, missing information or the adjudicator needs clarification on a matter. Until the information requested in the RFE is resolved, the application is put on hold and processing suspended.

As a separate matter, please turn your CAPS LOCK off. It is considered shouting and we can all hear you just fine!

[gtessier 17]

Just to throw in my two cents on the marriage broker/dating site RFE's, I printed off screen prints on our first conversations on Facebook because when we got engaged, I met with two different immigration lawyers and was told that meeting on a dating site could come under the marriage brokerage act. I wanted to make it clear that our petition wasn't subject to that law.

If the lawyer mentioned dating sites to me, then others must have had problems with it, but probably more in TSC. Other threads are suggesting that there have been new adjudicators hired for TSC, so they may be told to get this information, or who knows what else.

May the RFE's be resolved quickly!!!!!

Actually, this latest rash of RFE's are coming from CSC, not TSC. I would agree that it must be due to new adjudicators reviewing the apps and not familiar with the loosely written IMBRA law and its ambiguity. Apparently they are choosing to err on the side of caution and trying to go by the letter of the unclearly written law.

[chrisinla24 1]

"REF" is the guy at a football game wearing the striped shirt.

"RFE" is Request For Evidence. Its when an application is incomplete, missing information or the adjudicator needs clarification on a matter. Until the information requested in the RFE is resolved, the application is put on hold and processing suspended.

As a separate matter, please turn your CAPS LOCK off. It is considered shouting and we can all hear you just fine!

Thanks, SORRY LOL !

Is actual RFE - request for evidence

When the reviewer feels that your petition doesn't meet all the criteria, they give you one more chance to provide information about whatever that missing piece is.

For the marriage brokerage act RFE's, they need to prove that neither the US petitioner or the foreign beneficiary paid a marriage broker.

Thanks !

[noz 3]

I can't believe it, it looks like our case has been approved!

We didn't get any text or email to say it was approved, but I just tried to check my case status on USCIS website and instead of the usual "Unable to access your case right now" I saw this:

On April 10, 2015, we approved your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number WACxxxxxxxxx. We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

My fiancee might have got an email and missed it, as she gets hundreds of emails everyday for work. I will update my timeline as soon as I see an email or paper NOA2 (still in disbelief, thinking it might be an error of some sort...).

Being as CSC I had hoped for a fast process but I didn't expect it to be this fast! We had our NOA1 on March 26.

[gtessier 17]

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.

Here's an update on how I am handling the situation:

Yesterday (Monday) I called Cherry Blossoms. I spoke with a woman there that works in their visa service department. They also have a service that prepares paperwork for visa procssing, like many other websites, immigration lawyers, etc. She collected my info and I sent her a copy of my RFE so that the owner, Mike, could read it and know how to address the matter correctly and write a letter to USCIS/CSC.

She consulted with Mike and only a couple hours later I had a PDF emailed to me, addressed to CSC and personally signed by Mike. While the letter was in full color and a high quality scan, she asked me if I wanted the original. I told her I thought it might be a good idea and emailed her a prepaid USPS shipping label for a flat rate Priority Mail envelope. Keep in mind that CB is on the big island of Hawaii and any mail takes at least 3 days to arrive by Priority Mail. This document should arrive by Friday.

That is document #1...

I let Melanie know what to do for document #2. She prepared her own affidavit that states that she never paid for any membership at CB. She also stated that she never gave them any of her personal information as they never collected it. We met in July 2012 by introducing ourselves to each other by email and then exchanged Yahoo Messenger ID's. From there, we went off-site and the relationship began. We closed our profiles a month later and there was never any further involvement by CB of any sort. Its Wednesday morning there now and she will go to the DHL office there and send the document to me with her original signature and it should be here by Thursday or Friday.

That is document #2...

Between now and Friday afternoon I will prepare my statement on the matter. It will echo the same statements of both Mike at CB and Melanie and I will likely add their IMBRA exemption as well as reiterate that CB is a dating site where the members only post personal ads and meet for fun, friendship and possibly romance. It's up to them to take it from there and see what evolves. God knows I kissed a lot of frogettes on CB before I finally met my princess. It's really no different than meeting a woman in a nightclub and asking her for her phone number and calling her the next day and the relationship evolving from there. The nightclub does not arrange the relationship - they only provide the venue. And using that comparison, it would certainly not make the nightclub or its owner a matchmaker or marriage broker.

That is document #3....

So now we have both sides with signed statements and also the owner of CB. I hope that's enough. I will also include a copy of the DHL airbill as proof that Melanie's documents are originals and the signatures are original. I realize that its not actual proof, but it does show that we put forth the effort to get an original signature from her and not a copy and for sure not forged.

By Friday night I will have the packet ready to mail and it should be on somebody's desk Monday morning.

As a side note, I want to thank the people at CB, especially Elena, for their super quick and diligent handling of the matter. I did not doubt that I would get help, but the speed at which they handled the matter was unexpected and truly appreciated.

Edited April 14, 2015 by gtessier

[chrisinla24 1]

I can't believe it, it looks like our case has been approved!

We didn't get any text or email to say it was approved, but I just tried to check my case status on USCIS website and instead of the usual "Unable to access your case right now" I saw this:

On April 10, 2015, we approved your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number WACxxxxxxxxx. We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

My fiancee might have got an email and missed it, as she gets hundreds of emails everyday for work. I will update my timeline as soon as I see an email or paper NOA2 (still in disbelief, thinking it might be an error of some sort...).

Being as CSC I had hoped for a fast process but I didn't expect it to be this fast! We had our NOA1 on March 26.

That's good news ! GOOD LUCK !

[Matt and Ângela 5]

For the marriage brokerage act RFE's, they need to prove that neither the US petitioner or the foreign beneficiary paid a marriage broker.

I don't think paying a marriage broker prevents you from getting a K-1, but just requires more paperwork to be filled out?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Marriage_Broker_Regulation_Act

[gtessier 17]

The important thing is to look at the IMBRA Act and understand the spirit of the law and why it was enacted. What complicates matters is that the definition of "International Marriage Broker" is loosely defined and includes "some dating sites", which is vague and misleading for the adjudicators.

While you get the Wikipedia reference, check this one out and read the second section titled "International Marriage Agency", and read it's definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail-order_bride

The key point is that the agency/broker facilitates the introduction rather than the couple finding each other on their own. So, having said that, I would see this being the difference:

Cherry Blossoms, Match.com, cupid.com, Zoosk.com, plentyoffish.com, etc are Dating Sites.

Look at this site as it would be an example of an "online website" that is definitely a marriage broker:

http://www.alena-marriage-agency.com/

or this one....

http://www.youmemarriage.com/

So looking at the difference between a "dating site" and these two examples, I can understand why the confusion by an adjudicator when the applicant states "we met online". However, I specifically stated Cherry Blossoms and any experienced adjudicator should recognize them as they have to have seen hunderds of applications go through USCIS from meetings on CB.

Now, here's a couple of websites that get into a gray area. "AnastasiaDate.com" and "AsianDate.com" make you pay for "credits". You use the credits for chat time and reading and sending emails. If you think that is a rip-off, it gets worse. They act as a barrier between you and the women and you cannot get their information when emailing them or chatting with them. They block the email addresses, the words "Facebook", Yahoo Messenger" and so on. You have to use 100 credits to arrange a phone call and frankly, I would be unsure if it is even the same girl you would have been chatting with as I have read their reviews and members bought a phone call and the girl did not even remember, or was unfamiliar with the content of their chats and emails. Regardless, this is a paid site that starts in a gray area and gets stickier with regard to IMB definition as you move closer to a relationship with the woman. However, don't get too confused as it it really a scam to keep you hooked and keep throwing money at girls you will never meet.

Edited April 14, 2015 by gtessier

[Amhara 460]

I don't think paying a marriage broker prevents you from getting a K-1, but just requires more paperwork to be filled out?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Marriage_Broker_Regulation_Act

You're right. I wasn't trying to imply that using a marriage broker prevents K-1; but there are specific stipulations that I hadn't researched, so I didn't want to opine on them. Thanks for providing that reference! It will clear up any confusion on my vague comment!

[thespoons 33]

congrats noz. that was rather quick!

[dsldesch 27]

I don't have any updates to report...I'm one of the last in line at TSC, so I'm not surprised.

Reading about the RFEs has been interesting, though. My fiance and I met five years ago through a Jewish dating site while he was actually in the United States as a student, but the site was new and not very well populated, so we ended up staying in touch through Facebook for about four years before our relationship began, by which time he'd already moved back to Mexico. I explained this in a supplement to the petition, so I hope we don't run into an RFE down the line; that'd only be extra months on top of so many months already ahead of us. *sigh* But until I hear anything, nothing will come from stressing about it.

[KASH2011 382]

I can't believe it, it looks like our case has been approved!

We didn't get any text or email to say it was approved, but I just tried to check my case status on USCIS website and instead of the usual "Unable to access your case right now" I saw this:

On April 10, 2015, we approved your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number WACxxxxxxxxx. We will mail your approval notice. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

My fiancee might have got an email and missed it, as she gets hundreds of emails everyday for work. I will update my timeline as soon as I see an email or paper NOA2 (still in disbelief, thinking it might be an error of some sort...).

Being as CSC I had hoped for a fast process but I didn't expect it to be this fast! We had our NOA1 on March 26.

Congrats!