Attached please find information from the USCIS dated June 13, 2006 regarding recent changes and delays with Fiancée Visas petitions

If you have already filed a Fiancée or Spousal Visa petition with the USCIS you will receiving a questionnaire soon for you to complete and mail back to the USCIS. The questions are related to domestic violence and criminal convictions.

If you have already filed after 3/6/06 there is nothing to do but wait until you receive the questionnaire and complete it and return to the USCIS for processing. If you have not filed please use the attached new I-129F.

If you have additional questions you may call the USCIS at 800-375-5283 and push the following at the voice prompts – 1, 3, 4, 9.

Cherry Blossoms, Inc. is not a Marriage Broker and to our knowledge none of our clients use a Marriage Broker so the answer on the I-129F or Questionaire is that you have not used a Marriage Broker.



Aloha



CB Staff

Thanks for the information.

I met my fiance through a website called datingplace.com (or Parperfeito for her in Brasil). The website is like Yahoo Personals (in fact they are associated with Yahoo).

I personally did not think they would be classified as a Marriage Broker either, but from the USCIS's description on the RFE (it says any place that charges a fee for dating etc.) I put yes, and explained on an attached sheet that it's not like the websites where you pay for a womans specific information, and there are people from all countries included the US that us it.

I wasn't exactly sure what to put, but figured if I put yes and gave them the information, they would decide weather it is or not, rather than send me another RFE down the road telling me otherwise.

Would be nice if they had some sort of list

I agree that in the IMBRA law it says that a marriage broker is considered as a paying service that provides services for dating, marriage, or a form of communication between two individuals. However, it might be exempt because of the fact that it was culturally or religously based.

Yes If they had a list it would be much more helpfull, me I am marking it Yes and an explnation that we met in the chat area, and neather of us had joined the paying part of the site, untill three months after we had met. met in OCT, Joined site on DEC 07, met in person in April, finished paperwork in may , NOA1 on May 15th, RFI June 30th Sending it in on Monday July 3ed.

I am also going to say yes as well. But a part of me, i guess out of fear, is how would they know where we meet the girl/or boy

BE CAREFUL! I also met my fiancee through this site. I got the same response from CB that they are not an IMB. I consulted an immigration attorney soon after and he explained why CHERRY BLOSSOMS IS CONSIDERED AND IMB under the law. He advised me to answer yes to the question and also advised that since we met prior to the law going in to affect not to worry about it.

Just wondering… what are you guys going to do if the USCIS asks Cherry Blossoms if they delivered the IMBRA-required information to your fiancé, and then Cherry Blossoms says that they have not?

Or what if any couple met two years ago on a dating site, which today, no longer has their correct contact information? How in the world is the dating site supposed to be able to say that they have met the requirements of IMBRA?

I think regardless of what the sites say that they are IMBRA compliant. I think we should take that information with a grain of salt. I think we should still say that we did use a marriage broker, according to IMBRA regulations.

[[/quote]
Just wondering… what are you guys going to do if the USCIS asks Cherry Blossoms if they delivered the IMBRA-required information to your fiancé, and then Cherry Blossoms says that they have not?

Or what if any couple met two years ago on a dating site, which today, no longer has their correct contact information? How in the world is the dating site supposed to be able to say that they have met the requirements of IMBRA?
[/quote]


We met last year before the law went into effect. So at that time they would not have been required to provide that information. I really don't know for the future how they will prove that they are in compliance. I expect all benficiaries will be getting that question in the interview if it applies.

Interesting response from Cherry Blossoms. I met Yang Bo on Cherry Blossoms and so Friday night I emailed Cherry Blossoms to ask the the very same question. I hope to have a reply tomorrow. I will post there reply. I would think it will be the same response which you received.

Yeah they seem to be sticking their head in the sand on this new law. Like if they don't see it it must not be real. LOL!

"Hi! Just got this response from Cherry Blossoms

While 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 that meet on our web site. But our government has written a very broad definition of Marriage Broker so we will leave it up to you what to fill in.

Not sure if it hinders your petition to state that you used a marriage broker or not.

Sorry for the ambiguity but this law is an odd item. If you say you did not use a marriage broker you should let your Fiancée know so that at her interview she does not mention Cherry Blossoms.

Aloha

Duane
CB Staff

USCIS's Definition of International Marriage Broker

"international marriage broker" which means: a corporation, business, individual, or other legal entity, whether or not organized under any law of the United States, that charges fees for providing dating, matrimonial, matchmaking services, or social referrals between United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States as lawful Permanent residents and foreign national clients by providing contact information or otherwise facilitating communication between individuals.


Thank you,"

I guess it's up to me to decide how to answer once I get the REF