Is Cherry Blossoms an International Marriage Broker ~Question FINALLY Answered~

[BrianMarie2014 6]

Hello everyone,

I'm Brian living here in New Jersey USA and my Fiancee is Marie currently living in the Philippines. She is really the brains behind the operation and she directed me to this site earlier in the week over something she read about online. It seems that our forever growing, over reaching, over complicating federal government has something called IMBRA or International Marriage Broker Regulation Act which is posted everywhere on this site but no one can seem to figure out what the hell it means or whether the site you met your girl (or guy) through is one of these "Marriage Brokers". My first reaction was are you freaking serious??? Like this process isn't complicated and stressful enough just trying to decipher the stupid I-129f and everything else that follows now I have to deal with this nonsense!!! I found the Section 4 (B) (II) of IMBRA but it just seems to cover everything and the language can be interpreted either way.

My first thought was email Cherry Blossoms and just ask them are you or aren't you a Marriage Broker? So I did BUT Marie has a little bit of impatience and can't stop reading the entire internet and driving me crazy over this IMBRA and putting the fear of the all powerful USCIS into me. I decided to go off on my own and start reading. I found two news articles that were very interesting and humorous and what I realized is that a marriage broker is something much more than just a dating site. People are paying thousands of dollars for these "Marriage Brokers" to arrange everything. You see that's the first key, the broker gets paid to set it all up not just to give access to a website where you set up everything like your account, profile, you choose who you talk with and where they are from. A marriage broker does it all you just go along for the ride. Here are the two news articles that I read.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/online-international-marriage-broker-promises-men-love-women/story?id=14326719


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/10060419/International-marriage-brokers-can-money-buy-you-love.html

The next big thing was that these marriage brokers make you sign paperwork so they can background check you. The are required by law to do so and if your dating site did not have you sine a form to get a background check done they are either :

1. breaking the law

2. not a marriage broker

or

3. Reside outside of US jurisdiction and are not bound by the IMBRA act.

So after days of grinding over this with my girl, stressing about how to answer that damn question on the I-129f, reading all the back and forth about it on here and other similar sites practically rubbing the hair off my head I get an email and here comes the best part. I know your all on the edge of your seats


CHERRY BLOSSOMS IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN AN INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGE BROKER

Below you will find the exact copy of the letter I received today (01/13/16) from the Cherry Blossom staff. I have also attached the CB letter as a pdf file in case anyone wants to download and use it when you respond to the RFE you received. It should put a quick end to the sheer insanity created by the the federal government. In my mind if you are going to create an act that legally binds a business to certain laws they SHOULD ALSO make a list of businesses and agencies that ARE Marriage Brokers and a quick list of the ones that are not. I guess that would just be too easy, it's much better to send out hundreds of RFE's, cost the petitioner extra money and cause undue stress while doing nothing to help but only to drag out an already arduous process.

My last comment before I let this post fly is there are members who seem to casually throw out the suggestion "just call USCIS and ask them"... My question to those members is have you ever called USCIS to ask a question? I have called them, so many times... and every time I call I hang up swearing I'll never call them again. The last time I called I was so irritated by the "customer NON service rep" I just finally asked her "what exactly is your function if you can't ever answer any of my questions?" She simply said "its to tell you what forms you need to fill out." I replied "I don't need you to tell me what forms I need to fill out, I know that already. I need you to clarify your questions on the forms". She apologized and said " I'm sorry sir, we are not able to answer any questions about the forms. We are just a call center, we can only tell you which forms you need to fill out". I just couldn't take it anymore, it was like talking to a robot... I mean the USCIS website can do everything these call center people are doing less the irritation of talking with them. I had to take a moment of silence to contain my frustration when she finally asked "is there anything else I can help you with"? All I could think to say was "I doubt it" and hung up. I mean if the prompts alone don't get you irritated when you actually get someone on the phone that will.

I really hope this can help some of you out and I guess if you have any questions please let me know and I'll try to help as best I can. We are planning to submit our petition this Monday and this key piece of information couldn't have come at a better time. She not even awake yet to read this so I'm sure it's gonna be a great day in the Philippines..

Take care everyone and God Bless your Visa Journey

Brian and Marie

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

from: Cherry Blossoms Customer Support <office@blossoms.com> to: Brian A<my email addy@email.com> (edited for privacy) date: Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 3:35 PM subject: Re: Question about IMB mailed-by: blossoms.com

Dear Brian,

Cherry Blossoms is not an International Marriage Broker. There are no introductions or matchmaking services or social referrals between US Citizens and foreign nationals. There are no written consent forms or contracts that members sign. Members search and communicate with others from their own free will. The government has written a very broad definition that includes almost all companies.

USCIS is now requiring information on the websites (not just CB) that provided dating services between US citizens and foreign nationals. The intent is to try to identify International Marriage Brokers that charge women $10,000 or more 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.

Your fiancée did not pay or signed a written consent authorizing the release of personal information. There were no introductions, both of you communicated from your own free will. You may also want to submit a signed letter from your fiancée confirming this fact.

Enclosed is our letter.

Best wishes,

CB Staff

P.S. Our US Visa Support offers an excellent comprehensive visa preparation service. We would be happy to assist you with your questions. For more information please contact us at visa@blossoms.com or (877)907-8472 for a free consultation. Our telephone hours are M-F 7:30 am to 3:30 pm Hawaii Standard Time.

CBSigned08-05-15.pdf

Edited January 13, 2016 by BrianMarie2014

[TheResistance 6]

The only Cherry Blossoms I know of just sell chocolates and flowers.

I may have missed it from reading, but how did you two meet (marriage broker)? Did you pay someone to meet or you met on your own (face to face, Facebook, interstellar trips, regular dating website (free or not free)?

[BrianMarie2014 6]

Well the post wasn't really meant to be a walk through of the meeting with my fiancee but we met on the dating site Cherry Blossoms which is basically the same as match.com or eHarmony and I met her while I was already vacationing in the Philippines. I used the Cherry Blossoms site to meet her then we met in person about a week later.

http://www.blossoms.com/ ( Web Address )

The main purpose of my post was to inform people that simple dating sites are not marriage brokers. If someone went through a marriage broker they and their bank account will definitely know it. Most marriage brokers fees are in the thousands. Paying $34 bucks for 3 months is NOT going to get you a phone conversation let alone brokering a marriage. My main point is that after someone pays the fee to access a dating site the site has nothing more to do with their searching, finding, communicating, visiting or marrying any other member from their site.

Even though you can view the profiles on the site which most of the time are free the cost of the membership is to communicate with other members and that's it period! Everything else is up to the members to build the relationship. I also believe Cherry Blossoms only charges the man a fee but I could be wrong.

[BrianMarie2014 6]

Just reading a little more and found this interview with the CEO of Cherry Blossoms Mike Krosky. Not sure what was going on in the Philippines back in the 70's but it must have been pretty crazy...

http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/news/2013/10/cherryblossomscom-interview-with-ceo-mike-krosky.html

Quote from interview :

What do you offer in the way of on-the-ground services?

I would say we are strictly idating. We did tours back in 70s/80s and even 90s. Then IMBRA was introduced to regulate international matchmakers. We're really not a matchmaking company. We never felt like that was our place. We got away from the tours because the companies that are doing that in Philippines are walking a fine line. The Philippine government is not that keen on international matchmaking companies because of the problems they had way back in the 70s.

[TheResistance 6]

We met on the free Christian dating website, christiandatingforfree.com.

I could not afford to pay a dating website for 0 matches. The best, money not spent in my case.

[TBoneTX 45,273]

The intent to be helpful is appreciated; however, the significance of the IMBRA and the status of Cherry Blossoms have been previously established. Therefore, this thread is now closed to further comment and is not to be reopened. In addition, please refrain from adding to other threads.

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