What are the special requirements of IMBRA?
IMBRA requires “marriage brokers” (a broadly defined term that includes any corporation or individual engaged in “marriage brokering” or “matchmaking” if their primary focus is on introducing U.S. citizens to foreign nationals) to conduct a background check regarding the U.S. citizen and to share any adverse information they find with the foreign national before making an introduction between the U.S. citizen and the foreign national. It also requires U.S. citizen petitioners to disclose whether or not they met their fiancee through a “marriage broker”, and whether or not they have any adverse criminal history in their past. IMBRA also places numerical limitations on the number of K1 (or K3) petitions a U.S. citizen can file within a two year period and also over their entire life. Waivers of the numerical limitations are available, but because the law is so new, as of August 2006 it is not clear how easy (or difficult) it will be to obtain a waiver if one is required. One thing that i
