Thanks to fellow member pushbrk I have been rereading the definition of what a Marraige broker is. The more I read it the more goofy the wording is.

According to 1-129F you are suppose to know the National breakdown of clients by any agency or website you use.
If their PRINCIPLE BUSINESS is Americans then you should have complied with the IMBA. (Background check)

How would I know if Americans are the "Principle business" for any agency or website? And further more, How would the guy in his cubical processing K-1 visas know whether Americans are the Principle business for any given website or agency?
Can he audit their books? Or am I suppose to provide PROOF of this fact?

If these were american companies then the law would put the burden on them but often these are not and the expectation that the US citizen would know or have to inquire about the revenue of any business is odd.

It would be like passing a law which said you can not buy any product abroad which was manufactured by labor earing less than 1 dollar an hour.
Sure this might be workable for huge import businesses but for the average guy buying a leather briefcase at a market in Mexico city... to be stopped at the airport and required to "show proof".


Well anyway....

I don't wish to be rude but you will never understand what you read until you are able to comprehend the meaning of a full sentence and/or paragraph. You've misquoted and misinterpreted what you wrote. The issue isn't whether Americans are the principle business of a dating website. For crying out loud, Americans are the principle business of numerous dating sites that do little if any business with foreigners. The key issue is whether hooking up Americans with foreigners is the principle business of a dating site that charges different fees based on nationality. If the fees are the same for everybody regardless of nationality, then the site isn't an IMB, regardless of whether its principle business is hooking up Americans with foreigners.

"The issue isn't whether Americans are the principle business of a dating website. For crying out loud, Americans are the principle business of numerous dating sites that do little if any business with foreigners."
-PushBRK


My friend, I can see you are a little slow but don"t worry I am a patient

You seem to be stuck on trying to include certain US dating sites into my words even though I have rules them out several times, even by name.

Here let me try again (even louder this time) *Typical Us dating sites do not fit the definition of Marriage broker because they 1. don't have two sets of fees IE; male female and 2. clearly the vast majority of business are domestic*.


I am sure your view is interesting but get past YAHOO, we closed that chapter a long time ago.



PS: still waiting to get those websites from you.

Just what criteria was it you had for those example websites? I think you mean dating sites that are not based in the USA but have US customers. Here are a couple I believe are not IMB's.

http://www.asianeuro.com http://asiafriendfinder.com/ Would you like more, or can you find them on your own now?

Maybe you could give an example or two of dating websites you think ARE IMBs and why.

You are missing the point here. If the USCIS is concerned whether you used an IMB, then you will get an RFE (request for evidence) which will slow down the process. Provide full disclosure of the website involved, if you paid any fees and leave it at that. If you take the approach that all websites that provide some type of introduction services are IMB, then you can answer the questions and move on.

Or, when the truth is you didn't use an IMB, you simply put an X in the "NO" box and move on.

So just out of curiosity would the following site be considered and IMB?

http://personals.gaijinpot.com/public/home.jhtml

It is part of the WorldFriends Network: http://www.worldfriendsnetworks.com/

My wife was not on gaijinpot but another site that is part of the WorldFriends Network.

If you could take a look and shed some light I would be grateful. :)

Looks like they have an internet dating segment of their site offering to members and that all members are charged the same fee. So, I think it is exempt on the basis of both the charge and primary business exclusions.

Thank you for your reply. That is what I thought as well but I wanted other opinions because different people have different points of view. Though its always difficult to say how the government will interpret things.

Anyway, thanks for your insight pushbrk! :)

This IMB stuff gets reaaaaly confusing. I'm glad Pushbrk's got it figured out! I'm trying. I'm glad your two are fine.