A Tricky Question... I need some 'exert' advice

[TucsonBill 0]

Again, I wish to God I had found this site before I had filed my I-129F... This is gona be long, sorry!

My RFE also asks for more particulars about how I established my relationship with my fiance, and to be quite honest, I am not exactly sure, here's why.

I met her on an online dating site, but it was a site where I was given limited access for free and I did not have to pay a fee for a basic account and I actually did it more out of bordome than anything else. I'd been seprated for 8 years and had just finally filed for divorce and started thinking if I might find a better match for myself by trying to find somone with common interests and beliefs (computerized method).

When I singed up, I didn't even use my real name, I just made one up so I could get in and take a peek at profiles and get a feel for how computerized matching worked. My fiance just happens to be the very first person I ever contacted on one of these sites and was the #1 match for me. The way the site works now, is that as long as ONE of the members is a paying member, they can receive messages from a non-paying member. Two non-paying members cannot communicate. I did not know this at the time and I am not sure if that was even the rule then because at the time, it was a relaatively new site with not many members, and I think thier rules may have changed since last September. The site has certainly grown alot since I was last there, (i just checked it for the first time in over a year today).

I have to check with my fiance and see if she had paid a fee, thus allowing me to contact her, but I suspect she was a paying member based on what their rules are now, but I dont know for sure.

I know for a fact that my very first email to her, after she responded to me with her email address, was an explanation as to why I had singed up on that site using a ficticious name. I am a business man, and I was reluctant to put any 'real' info on there becuase I did not want a customer looking me up and finding me on a dating website - hehe. She understood and we were simply pen-pals in the beginning discussing a common interest.

Now I am wondering if I answered the IMBRA question correctly. Can I just expain this to in the RFE that if I answered the question wrong it was becase I did not think it applied to me at the time, but now I think it might? Anyone else ever have something like this? Our 'love' relationship did not develop on this site, it actually developed when we started chatting on Yahooo messenger.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else has had this question or has any ideas.

Bill

PS - darn it's frustrating you cant edit your topic, i meant EXPERT advice hehe

Edited October 6, 2006 by TucsonBill

[ManuNSam 1]

whats the harm in simply stating - we met online.

whether you continued your electronic conversations in yahoo messenger or a paid website, its still communicating with someone you havent met - but are getting to know.

maybe im missing it, but whether or not you paid for the website service, it is indeed the first place you met/made contact.

sam

[TucsonBill 0]

whats the harm in simply stating - we met online.

whether you continued your electronic conversations in yahoo messenger or a paid website, its still communicating with someone you havent met - but are getting to know.

maybe im missing it, but whether or not you paid for the website service, it is indeed the first place you met/made contact.

sam

Maybe you need to read the IMBRA question more thoroughly and see the definition of an International Marriage Broker according to USCIS. I did simply say we met online, but they want a clearer more concise answer.

Bill

Edited October 6, 2006 by TucsonBill

[ManuNSam 1]

You cannot avoid stating the truth of where you met. a more truthful concise answer is

"we met on a website that provided a free trial service. after the trial expired we contineud to communicate through other chat mechanisms (yahoo messenger) as well as email)

and if you want to avoid the issue of the online service simply state

"although we were aquantied with one another at SOME WEBSITE, we didnt communicate. it was later we connected and began communicating with one another over yahoo messenger"

sam

[Ken_Maria 0]

Again, I wish to God I had found this site before I had filed my I-129F... This is gona be long, sorry!

My RFE also asks for more particulars about how I established my relationship with my fiance, and to be quite honest, I am not exactly sure, here's why.

I met her on an online dating site, but it was a site where I was given limited access for free and I did not have to pay a fee for a basic account and I actually did it more out of bordome than anything else. I'd been seprated for 8 years and had just finally filed for divorce and started thinking if I might find a better match for myself by trying to find somone with common interests and beliefs (computerized method).

When I singed up, I didn't even use my real name, I just made one up so I could get in and take a peek at profiles and get a feel for how computerized matching worked. My fiance just happens to be the very first person I ever contacted on one of these sites and was the #1 match for me. The way the site works now, is that as long as ONE of the members is a paying member, they can receive messages from a non-paying member. Two non-paying members cannot communicate. I did not know this at the time and I am not sure if that was even the rule then because at the time, it was a relaatively new site with not many members, and I think thier rules may have changed since last September. The site has certainly grown alot since I was last there, (i just checked it for the first time in over a year today).

I have to check with my fiance and see if she had paid a fee, thus allowing me to contact her, but I suspect she was a paying member based on what their rules are now, but I dont know for sure.

I know for a fact that my very first email to her, after she responded to me with her email address, was an explanation as to why I had singed up on that site using a ficticious name. I am a business man, and I was reluctant to put any 'real' info on there becuase I did not want a customer looking me up and finding me on a dating website - hehe. She understood and we were simply pen-pals in the beginning discussing a common interest.

Now I am wondering if I answered the IMBRA question correctly. Can I just expain this to in the RFE that if I answered the question wrong it was becase I did not think it applied to me at the time, but now I think it might? Anyone else ever have something like this? Our 'love' relationship did not develop on this site, it actually developed when we started chatting on Yahooo messenger.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else has had this question or has any ideas.

Bill

PS - darn it's frustrating you cant edit your topic, i meant EXPERT advice hehe

Bill I think you rquestion is whether the site you met your fiancee on was or is now an internet dating site? There are many forums like Yahoo, Friendster and a few more that are not dating or international marriage brokers. I think you shold explain it the same way you explained it here stating that after initial contact you continued your relationship outside the ocnfines of the dating site. I am not sure and by far no expert, but it appears the RFE is because they think or suspect you met on one of the marriage broker sites like Thailovers, Filipinaheart or CherryBlossoms. Good luck, Payato

[heishe 2]

Was the site specifically about meeting foreign women? It doesn't sound like an IMB from your description.

[john_and_marlene 162]

What was the site? Match.com? Americansingles?

[TucsonBill 0]

What was the site? Match.com? Americansingles?

It was Thai Love Links, which the site has changed alot snice I was there last year, and again, when I signed up I did not pay anything, let alone actually expect to meet anyone there - it was just out of curioisity - and pretty much the same with her - I will chat with her today and see if she paid a fee. I did not even sign up using a real name - it was really quite a 'chance' meeting. She was the first person I contacted there because she had filled out a Christian profile, and I am also Christian. (She is a convert from Buddhism from the time she was in college)

Bill

[Michelle_Otman 0]

ok i met my fiance on american singles and i was not a member but i had 30 replies and i wasnt sure if i really wanted to pay the membership fee. then out of the blue a 3 day trial popped up and i said y not. so i used my debt card and checked my mail, out of the 30 there was only 3 that i replied to. when i replied i gave them my yahoo addy and told them that i was only going to be a member for only 15 mins.

the next thing i know i am chatting with my fiance on yahoo he was online and received my message and he messaged me in my yahoo... through chatting as time went by i found out that he had only just messaged my profile only 45 mins before i became a member and messaged him.

i am pretty sure u will have to show proof of the dating service u met on any messages and what not. we had no proof of american singles. i was advised to say we met online in yahoo chat. and i did just that. best of luck...

Michelle/Otman

[TucsonBill 0]

I was really hoping that this situation would not be so uncommon that I would find someone else who had a similar situation, or had read of a similar situation, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen... anyone?

[mozplay 29]

Tuscon Bill,

My fiance and I met on match.com. We filed with the new forms and stated as such on them with an attachment. Here are the details below:

For question 18 we wrote:

First met online via Match.com in April 2004. First met in person May 2004. See "I-129F Supplement: Part B: Question 18"

Edited October 6, 2006 by mozplay

[TucsonBill 0]

Tuscon Bill,

My fiance and I met on match.com. We filed with the new forms and stated as such on them with an attachment. Here are the details below:

For question 18 we wrote:

First met online via Match.com in April 2004. First met in person May 2004. See "I-129F Supplement: Part B: Question 18"

Tuscon Bill,

My fiance and I met on match.com. We filed with the new forms and stated as such on them with an attachment. Here are the details below:

For question 18 we wrote:

First met online via Match.com in April 2004. First met in person May 2004. See "I-129F Supplement: Part B: Question 18"

I am responding to an RFE

[mozplay 29]

Tuscon Bill,

for some reason, it won't post what I have written - there is a more complete answer that should help you (maybe) with the RFE question. I will PM it to you.

mo

Edited October 6, 2006 by mozplay

[Erik 0]

Whether you met through a Marriage Broker or not, should not hurt your case at all in the first place. They aren't saying if you met through a Marriage Broker you will be denied, they just want the information of the Marriage Broker.... so, if you are not sure, why not just give them the information, give them a little description saying you do not believe nor consider where you met to be a Marriage Broker, but you are providing the information they request just in case they find it is.

This is what I did... I did not believe where I met my fiance was a Marriage Broker, or considered one... actually I know it's not. But, I wrote a little description of where and how we met, gave them the address's, phone numbers etc. for the website, and let them decide. This way I would not receive another RFE, and it did not hold up my petition at all. I was approved less than 30 days after I sent it back.

[Yodrak 7]

sam,

The harm may be that it may be a material misrepresentation, by omission, now that IMBRA specifically asks about whether an IMB was involved.

Yodrak

whats the harm in simply stating - we met online.

...

sam