RFE for a signed written consent form IMB but site is not IMB

[David&Silvana 2]

Received our First Notice of Action dated (NOA1) May 15, 2015. I received a Request for Evidence (RFE) May 31, dated May 25, 2015 that stated: "The evidence in the file reflects that you met the beneficiary through the service of an International Marriage Broker (IMB). You stated that you met the beneficiary through www.latinamericancupid.com. This website is considered to be an International Marriage Broker as it is a business that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens and foreign nationals. Therefore, you are requred submit a copy of the signed written consent form that the International Marriage Broker obtained from teh beneficiary, (my fiance) authorizing the release of her personal contact information to you."

This form doesn't exist as we met on this international dating site and exchanged emails, phone numbers and left the site in January to communicate exclusively between ourselves. I emailed the site and received the following response: " 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).

Latinamericancupid is indeed an international dating site that charges comparable rates and offers comparable services to all individuals it serves regardless of the individual's gender or country of citizenship.

The second page of the current nine page instructions for Petition for Alien Fiance, USCIS, contains: "The term "internatinal marriage broker" does not include: b. Entities that provide dating services if their principal business is not to provide international dating services between United States citizens or United States residents and foreign nationals, and that charges comparable rates and offers comparable services to all indiviuals served regardless of their gender or country of citizenship."

When you sign up for latinamericancupid it's pretty much like match.com except for the world. There are no broker forms, consent forms, broker fees, etc. In fact, their terms of use specifically indicate they are "not a marriage brokering service, mail order bride service or a matchmaking service. The company is under no obligation to broker any other member or members for you."

So I visited my girl in February in Brazil, knowing before I landed, we had so many things in common, our values, our daughters, our love. Now I am going again to meet her family, and spend time with her and meet who I hope is my future daughter number three (my two are almost grown).

I am concerned that because this site is being viewed differently than the law would indicate, that USCIS can deny our petition because we didn't furnish a consent form that doesn't exist and the site doesn't use.

The site is clearly not an IMB. The funny thing about it all is that her sister from Brazil as well met her American husband on the same site in 2007, after this law was in place, and it was not considered a IMB by USCIS then. They are happily married in California.

I will update as this develops, but I had hoped to make bigger plans upon my second visit, but now we wait.

[Unshakable Faith 493]

Just respond to the RFE with a print out of the email from the website and I think you should be okay.

This happens a lot with various sites, I believe it's a pretty easy RFE to respond to.

Good luck!

[Longrangeshootr 20]

Agreed! Here's a helpful link!

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/544788-rfes-for-filipinocupidcom/

[David&Silvana 2]

Thanks for the encouragement!

[R_n_B 4]

I am sorry to bump this old thread but I have the same exact problem but with filipinocupid.com

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I am sorry to bump this old thread but I have the same exact problem but with filipinocupid.com

Do the same. Print out their TOS showing it is not an IMB, email them, and send a copy of their response stating to you that they are not one.

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

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/553690-received-my-rfe-today/

~Moved from K-1 Progress Reports to IMBRA Special Topics ~

[David&Silvana 2]

I sent a copy of latinamericancupid.com's email response and highlighted the second page of the instructions of the USCIS that contained the excerpts from the law which indicates dating sites not exclusive for U.S. citizens and foreign nationals are excluded from the IMB law. Got my 2nd NOA dated June 15th. I am sure that there are volumes of laws that immigrations officers cannot know each and every one when they make a review. Once I sent it in my case was approved in a very timely manner for the second NOA. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Longrangeshootr 20]

Congrats!!!

[TBoneTX 45,293]

Good news, and good job!

[David&Silvana 2]

One year ago I joined this site as my journey had begun. By June 15, 2015, my petition was approved and a week later I visited my fiancee a second time to meet her family. It would be the first time I got to meet my new 8-year old daughter.

At this time, I was afraid to take my fiancee her ring because I still was unsure about the entire immigration process.

Let me say here, read the forms; READ them twice: you can do this, but any error will only cause delays. if you put your birth date as 2016 and not 1976, its going to come back. I had another similar error. Also, YOU CAN DO THIS, likely, your situation will be slightly different than someone else's so read the instructions.

I had to fly both her and her daughter to Rio from RS, Brazil for medical exams and immunizations. Because they had to order one of the immunization kits from America, I had to fly them both back the second time. America requires an immunization not required in South America. I had to fly her one more time to Sao Paulo to pick up the medical records once they were complete. This was costing more than I had anticipated. But once you are committed, you must do whatever it takes! God has a way of making things work out, but you have to have faith and ACREDITAR, muito!

I was worried about our petition expiring 10/14/2015, and her Embassy interview was October 6, 2015. I did not fly to Brazil but flew her and our daughter to Rio from RS, Brazil. She sends me a message from the embassy that day, "You did not complete a DS-160 form for our daughter!"

I had been simply depending on information from her brother-in-law in California who met her sister 7 years earlier on the same site and brought both her and her son to America.

I quickly completed the form (keep all your records as I did in a very convenient central location). I scanned it, and emailed the pdf to her while she awaited across the street from the embassy in Brazil. Remember, WHATEVER IT TAKES!

She had to spend $265 for the form from her travel cash, but I ensured she had enough. Plan for these things!

The embassy took the paperwork and the money and they flew home as planned.

Because I believed as I had read, the VISA would be issued that day or be ready for pickup in Porto Alegre within a week. I bought airline tickets in September when I learned of the interview date in Rio. YES they strongly advise against this, but as we know, international tickets can be very pricey a week or two before departure dates.

I scheduled the flights to arrive October 16 in Porto Alegre, which is where the VISA's were to be picked up. And we were scheduled to depart for home in America the following Tuesday night, October 19th.

I called my U.S. Senator's office who had a person that only handled VISAs. They were encouraging, but as I learned, it was me that figured things out. This site and USCIS and continually educating myself was my best help!

My Senator ensured me they contacted the embassy and the VISAs were in Porto Alegre, two days before I departed.

I met my fiancee that Friday in Porto Alegre planning to pick up the VISAs that afternoon.

We made it by the immigration office in Porto Alegre, where only one person spoke English. It was a nice office with lots of officers but I was a bit surprised. I was informed that the VISAs were not there and that there was a problem with our daughter's VISA because she did not show up in the system.

Ok, it was only the week before that our daughter's birth father had arrived from 1,000 miles away in Brazil to sign documents for her to leave.

You must have a strong heart and keep your faith about everything.

Since it was late Friday, the office in Rio had closed and we were told to return Monday to see what was going on.

Sunday afternoon, my fiancee and I were driving by the USCIS office in Porto Alegre near our hotel and it was OPEN.

We stopped by, and they were able to determine that we had not entered a DS-160 form online, in the computer.

I explained that two weeks earlier I emailed the paper copy and she presented that to the embassy in Rio and we showed them the receipt for the cash payment.

It didn't matter, I didn't enter this form in the computer, and apparently neither did the embassy in Rio although they took the hard copy of the DS-160 form and cash payment for it.

I sent a message to my brother in law in California and he explains, "They just want more money! You need to pay again online!"

He actually did this for me in the next hour.

Meanwhile, I am pretty sure we are not leaving Brazil as scheduled on Tuesday.

I started calling my airline DELTA and had them down to $1,400 to change the flights to Friday if I called them back.

About a year earlier, I had gotten a AmericanAirlines card and 60,000 points, which now had 72,000 points on it.

American had one-way international tickets all the way home from Porto Alegre, one flight a day, 7 days a week. about 4 days a week, these flights were 20,000 points each. Keep your faith, trust only in God and pray!

I also was checking Sunday night flights from Porto Alegre to Rio in case we needed to go to pick up the VISAs.

Remember to think of everything you can. You can't fix everything, but there are some things you can do that will help.

I book three international tickets on American for less than $400 on points.

I cancel my fiancee and daughter's roundtrip tickets for a hopefully usable future credit.

Because I had flown half my flight coming from America, I have to wait to cancel my other half.

At 10:00am Monday, October 19, 2015 at the USCIS they discover that our daughter is now in the system, her and her mother are now officially tied together in the USCIS system.

My question then to the lady behind the glass, "How long will it take for the VISAs to arrive here?"

USCIS Amiga: "I can't say!"

Me: "Does it come by truck, by plane, by FedEx, how?"

USCIS Amiga: "I can't say!"

Me: "Typically, how does it come?"

USCIS Amiga:"by plane, but sometimes the weather is bad and it is delayed."

Me: "I have international flights that depart Friday (4 days), will it be here."

USCIS Amiga:"I can't say; you can fly to Rio and pick it up now to be safe"

Me: "If I fly her to Rio today she can pick up the VISAs!"

USCIS Amiga:"Yes!"

Me:"Do you think she should go pick them up rather than wait and hope they arrive here Friday?"

USCIS Amiga:"I can't say if they will be here or not by then, it is best you go pick them up."

Me:"Obrigado, call them and tell them she is on the way!"

USCIS Amiga: "I will call and she will not have to wait when she arrives."

It's 10:30am downtown Porto Alegre and because I searched AZUL airlines the night before, they have a flight that departs at 11:58am. It was one of those James Bond kinda moments, "VAMOS!"

We still at this point communicate more with body language and articulation because neither of us speak each others language, other than LOVE.

LOVE, remember, this how an untraveled guy like me from Mississippi ended up downtown Porto Alegre in October 2015.

LOVE, if you learn nothing else how to speak to the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, learn to say "I LOVE YOU!" in their language.

TE AMO TE AMO TE AMO. These are the secret to life, these are the most powerful words you will ever speak to anyone, in any language. Then spend the rest of your life, learning what they mean to yourself, to your significant other, maybe even to your God.

I James Bond arrive at Salgado Filho International Airport, in rush hour traffic 25 minutes before departure with a very used MasterCard, and hope!

While she flew to Rio I decided to test my Portuguese and running shoes downtown Porto Alegre. The running went well... I ended up pointing at the menu using words like Sim, Obrigado, and Quantos.

She made it back to Port Alegre that night and the next day we begin our six hour journey toward Argentina to her home in a small Brazilian town.

We made the flights, got upgraded on every flight. three months later American Airlines ended the direct flights to Miami it had only begun months earlier.

Faith, Hope and Love.

I married her two weeks later in America.

As I told her before I first came in February 2015, I am going to marry you. I know we haven't met, but we've exchanged 1,000s of messages, and we've talked endlessly on Skype (I used the I-voice Translator App that had only been out a year; God always has a plan for everything!). We compared our values, music, our families, everything.

Today, April 14, 2015, My beautiful wife, my daughter (9) who is already speaking English, and I went for bio-metrics.

One thing I must add, is that after the DS-160 form problem, I researched everything for the I-797C appointment and I completed the forms, reread them three days in a row, correcting minor mistakes. They were perfect, the notice came within two weeks of my submission. YOU can do this! You must become a student of your Journey, your situation, say your prayers, and then VAMOS!

Best wishes (Sorry for a lengthy final post but I am a writer type) The draft copy of my first and only book of poems Tablescraps arrived from my publisher in the mail the day before my first flight to Brazil to meet my then fiancee. It was a bit special to be reminded on my first international flight alone to meet her, of the times in my life that by the grace of God and a little faith had carried me through other challenges of life.