RFE to Prove SINA Weibo is not an IMB..Please help!

[Tony&Ivy 1]

Dear all,

I met my fiancée through the famous Chinese social networking website called SINA Weibo. I received an RFE saying:

Circumstances of Meeting

You indicated that you met the beneficiary through a dating website online called Sina Weibo . However,
you did not provide any specific details about this website. Submit information regarding this website and
the circumstances under which you and beneficiary met to establish the relationship.

International Marriage Broker (IMB)

You stated that you met the beneficiary on-line. It is not known if you met the beneficiary through an
International Marriage Broker. An International Marriage Broker is considered a business that charges fees
for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens
and foreign nationals. As such, please submit evidence that you did not meet the beneficiary through the
services of an International Marriage Broker or 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.

Here is what I have been doing to up to now:

1) USCIS said that we met at a "dating" website. However, I never indicated SINA Weibo is a dating website in my application. Then I wrote up the circumstances of how we first met online and took a screenshot of our initial conversation.

2) Both of us called SINA Weibo customer service. The reps told us that SINA Weibo is apparently not an IMB and has nothing to do with dating or matchmaking. However, one rep said that they do not have the authority to provide me with any written statement that I would have to message their official customer service account. I did that, no response. The other rep told us that we need to have our agency who's helping us with the case to contact SINA Weibo's legal department by fax (we hired an agency for filing the case). The agency refused to do so as they are not an attorney office.

3) I looked all over SINA Weibo's site for Terms of Service that might indicate that they're not an IMB and failed. However, I uploaded their Business Overview and Products & Services to VJ here. None of them are even related to dating/matchmaking.

4) Since SINA Weibo is a public listed company on NASDAQ in the U.S. (stock: WB). I went to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to download SINA Weibo's 2015 annual report which includes the company information. I uploaded it here to VJ also. In this file, they listed their Business Overview and Products & Services again. And they also listed their potential competitors such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Again, none of the content is related to dating/matchmaking.

I do not know these are sufficient evidence since I can't get a statement from the customer service...Valuable opinions would be much appreciated...

Sina Weibo Business Overview.pdf

Sina Weibo Products & Services.pdf

Sina Weibo SEC File Information on Company-20150428.pdf

[Fox1983 5]

To meet the exemption for an international marriage broker the company needs to offer comparable rates and services to people regardless of nationality, gender, etc... If you can show that the company meets that via their terms of service agreement, I would think that would cover the exemption.

We had the same RFE with Okcupid. I don't have the website address for the specific letter, but if you search for Okcupid RFE K1 visa you should eventually find a discussion in which someone posted the letter they sent in. You can edit it for your purposes and send it it. That's what we did.

[leishi 11]

To meet the exemption for an international marriage broker the company needs to offer comparable rates and services to people regardless of nationality, gender, etc... If you can show that the company meets that via their terms of service agreement, I would think that would cover the exemption.

We had the same RFE with Okcupid. I don't have the website address for the specific letter, but if you search for Okcupid RFE K1 visa you should eventually find a discussion in which someone posted the letter they sent in. You can edit it for your purposes and send it it. That's what we did.

sina weibo is basically chinese twitter, okcupid is actually a dating site.

[Tony&Ivy 1]

sina weibo is basically chinese twitter, okcupid is actually a dating site.

That's exactly right..So I can't use the exemption on a dating since Sina Weibo is just unrelated to dating..

[Operator 1,927]

Dear all,

I met my fiancée through the famous Chinese social networking website called SINA Weibo. I received an RFE saying:

Circumstances of Meeting

You indicated that you met the beneficiary through a dating website online called Sina Weibo . However,

you did not provide any specific details about this website. Submit information regarding this website and

the circumstances under which you and beneficiary met to establish the relationship.

International Marriage Broker (IMB)

You stated that you met the beneficiary on-line. It is not known if you met the beneficiary through an

International Marriage Broker. An International Marriage Broker is considered a business that charges fees

for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens

and foreign nationals. As such, please submit evidence that you did not meet the beneficiary through the

services of an International Marriage Broker or 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.

Here is what I have been doing to up to now:

1) USCIS said that we met at a "dating" website. However, I never indicated SINA Weibo is a dating website in my application. Then I wrote up the circumstances of how we first met online and took a screenshot of our initial conversation.

2) Both of us called SINA Weibo customer service. The reps told us that SINA Weibo is apparently not an IMB and has nothing to do with dating or matchmaking. However, one rep said that they do not have the authority to provide me with any written statement that I would have to message their official customer service account. I did that, no response. The other rep told us that we need to have our agency who's helping us with the case to contact SINA Weibo's legal department by fax (we hired an agency for filing the case). The agency refused to do so as they are not an attorney office.

3) I looked all over SINA Weibo's site for Terms of Service that might indicate that they're not an IMB and failed. However, I uploaded their Business Overview and Products & Services to VJ here. None of them are even related to dating/matchmaking.

4) Since SINA Weibo is a public listed company on NASDAQ in the U.S. (stock: WB). I went to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to download SINA Weibo's 2015 annual report which includes the company information. I uploaded it here to VJ also. In this file, they listed their Business Overview and Products & Services again. And they also listed their potential competitors such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Again, none of the content is related to dating/matchmaking.

I do not know these are sufficient evidence since I can't get a statement from the customer service...Valuable opinions would be much appreciated...

Here is what I would do.

Write a statement indicating that 'Weibo is a social networking and communication platform similar to Twitter or Facebook. It is a common network that people in China use as both Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China. It is a free of charge social networking site and does not provide dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens and foreign nationals.' and include the information that you have uploaded here as evidence.

I think you'll be good.

...and fill in your timeline.

[Tony&Ivy 1]

Here is what I would do.

Write a statement indicating that 'Weibo is a social networking and communication platform similar to Twitter or Facebook. It is a common network that people in China use as both Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China. It is a free of charge social networking site and does not provide dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens and foreign nationals.' and include the information that you have uploaded here as evidence.

I think you'll be good.

...and fill in your timeline.

Thank you so much for the very good suggestion! I will make sure to mention this in the response.

[Tony&Ivy 1]

CSC confirmed to receive our response to the RFE on 8/3. Still waiting. Fingers crossed..

[TBoneTX 45,293]

Let us know the outcome.

[Tony&Ivy 1]

My case just got approved today!! My NOA2 is on its way now! I'm so excited...Thank you all!

[Fox1983 5]

Awesome, congratulations!

[TBoneTX 45,293]

This is great news. Thanks for the update.

[Tony&Ivy 1]

Awesome, congratulations!

Thank you for the help!! Really appreciate it.

This is great news. Thanks for the update.

Thank you!!

[Operator 1,927]

My case just got approved today!! My NOA2 is on its way now! I'm so excited...Thank you all!

Very nice! time to get ready for the GUZ IV experience.

Also you might want to start researching and planning your calls to the NVC so you can track the progress of your approved petition as it makes it's way Guangzhou.

Good luck!