Kimo

My wife needs to get a amendment (stamp) in her international Russian passport that indicates she uses her married name. This is because her passport is still in her maiden name. This stamp will come from the Russian consulate in San Francisco. My question is: has anyone gotten this stamp before from the San Francisco Russian consulate? The consulate won't answer the phone or answer any emails. I need to know the process and time involved, and any prior experiences from anyone will help me significantly. Thanks, Kimo.

If you did not meet via a marriage broker then there is no need to explain at all how you initially met. The question asks the circumstances of how you met in person within the last 2 years.

I met my wife online but only explained in the petition the circumstances of my initial trip to the Phippines to meet her and her family. I think the CO asked during the interview how we met and we mentioned the online site and it was of no consequesce at all.

You're absolutely right. I didn't take the time read the question carefully. I may have shot myself in the foot with my answer, but since I've never been arrested and have no criminal record, it'll come out ok in the end. Thanks for pointing that out - I've read so many differing opinions. And, no problem with the meeting - we've had 2 so far; 1 in Kiev and 1 in Prague. We'll be meeting for the 3rd time in Thailand next week.

That's what I thought too and I'm on your side. I think it absolutely stupid to say a dating site is a marriage broker but according to the question 19 of the I-129F form you have to answer YES if you met her at a dating site.

I've already saw a few things on the internet and here at VJ and "yes" a dating site is a marriage broker:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry644163

So I'm not really interested in arguing if a dating site is a marriage broker or not. I already have that information. Just want to hear others experience about being scrutinized in regards to the IMBRA Act.

Well, I just sent an I-129F to CSC on yesterday (10 Feb) and I answered "no" to the marriage broker question. After reading many of the IMBRA threads (after I sent the petition), I suppose that I'm at risk of an RFE since I met my Russian fiancee on what I consider to be a social web site. I stated that on the form and also stated that the site on which we met compares to match.com. I'll let you know what happens.