International Marriage Broker Regulation Act

On January 5 of this year (2006), President Bush signed into law the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, (VAWA). The difference between the renewed and original versions of this otherwise excellent piece of legislation, is Title VIII, subtitle D, the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, (IMBRA).

IMBRA failed to pass on its own in past years. Its supporters, therefore, attached it to good legislation, VAWA, buried deep where it would avoid attention and scrutiny. The tactic was successful. The IMBRA provisions came into effect on March 6, 2006. We won't discuss all of its provisions here. We refer you to the website of immigration lawyer Gary Bala, who is leading a campaign to repeal IMBRA, (www.garybala.com). We will discuss those provisions which affect our relationship with you, our customers.

One provision relates to your citizenship and country of residence. IMBRA applies to all American citizens and any foreign nationals who permanently reside in the US. That would seem to allow Europeans and others to continue to buy ladies' contact information from agencies. However, a second provision prohibits US-based agencies from selling contact information to non-resident aliens, ie. anyone who is not a US citizen and not permanently residing in the US. These are the provisions that relate to with whom we can do business.

The remaining pertinent provisions relate to how we do business with our customers. They require us to gather a great deal of information about you.

1. We must obtain the complete addresses of each and every residence you have had since age 18.

2. We must check for your name in the national sex offender registry and the state sex offender registries of each state in which you have ever resided.

3. We must obtain the dates and lengths of each and every marriage you were in and the reason for dissolution of each mariage, ie. death, divorce, annulment.

4. We must obtain the number and ages of all your minor children (children still under 18 years of age).

5. We must translate this information into the language of the lady you wish to contact (Spanish and Portuguese for us.) and provide it to her.

6. We must obtain written consent and permission from her to release her contact information to you.

Then the two of you can interact and correspond as any dating couple would.

The net impact on you, is that while you can still subscribe to My Latin Flame without interference, you must provide the information required under IMBRA before you can order any contact information.

While we feel IMBRA is heavy handed and intrudes deeply into a man's privacy, much of the information being requested, would, or at least should, be disclosed during the dating process as confidence and trust builds between the couple. Our research has found that the Latin ladies we put on our site appreciate knowing something about the man writing to them before they receive his letters.