International Marriage Brokers 2003

Revised Date: August 06, 2004

Dear Clients, Friends and Supporters,

A. THE BILL

Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Maria Cantwell, both of Washington State, introduced legislation in the U.S. Congress on July 25, 2003 regulating "International Marriage Brokers". For the text of Sen. Cantwell's remarks, see Senate Record, July 25, 2003: Page 1, Page 2. The bill has been referred for consideration to the appropriate Committees when Congress re-convenes after summer recess in September.

For the text of the bill captioned "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2003", see this site and type in H.R. 2949.
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html
(The companion Senate Bill is S. 1455)

SPECIAL NOTE: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently held
hearings on the bill. For text of Prepared Testimony at Hearings on July 13, 2004:
Prepared Testimony Before Foreign Relations Committee.

This bill is largely driven by media reports about a recent shock case in Washington State in 2000 (ABC News, CBS News). Anastasia King, a 20 year-old foreign bride from Kyrgyzstan (former Soviet Union), was murdered by her husband Indle King, Jr.. The couple met through a so-called "marriage broker agency". Mr. King had been the subject of a prior court restraining order by his ex-spouse, another Russian bride, whom he had abused. Anastasia had no information beforehand about the prior restraining order. Meanwhile, after Anastasia's death, it appears that Mr. King had filed another fiancee visa petition for yet another lady with Immigration Service.

The bill, which is modeled after a recent Washington State law, essentially states:
1. A U.S. Citizen can only file one fiancee visa petition at a time in a one-year period.
2. International Marriage Brokers (IMB) are required to inform "foreign national clients" in writing and in their native langauge about their domestic violence rights under federal immigration rules and how to get help. Further, the IMB must secure each foreign client's written "informed consent" before releasing their contact information in the U.S.
3. The IMB must secure from each U.S. client-customer directly from that customer their History Information: criminal background, court restraining order history, marital history, past engagements and marriages with visa applicants, and list of all states lived in. The customer must also supply this information directly to Immigration Service in connection with visa application.
4. The IMB must inform the U.S. client that he or she will be subject of criminal background check, and must also provide history information of the U.S. client to each foreign national client before releasing contact information about the foreign person to the U.S. client.
5. Violations can result in civil fines up to $20,000 per violation and prison sentences up to five years. Enforcement would rest with an agency within Homeland Security.
6. The Bill also requires Immigration Service to conduct extensive federal and state background checks on each visa petitioner. It also requires U.S. Consulates to inform the visa applicant foreign national at final processing of A. their domestic violence rights and how to get help, B. criminal background results of the U.S. client and C. history information supplied by the U.S. client.

B. OUR POSITION ON THE BILL

I OPPOSE the provisions of the bill which impose direct regulation on International Marriage Brokers. In my view, such regulation is excessive and unnecessary. I believe that the type of requirements imposed on brokers will likely make their activities prohibitively costly and simply drive many of them offshore or underground. Brokers should not be asked to take on private investigator and government data collection functions.
If the intended purpose of the bill is to properly inform foreign lady applicants of their domestic violence rights and disclose to them the criminal background and history information of the U.S. client, that can be done directly and much less disruptively by Consular and Immigration officers on an individual basis in each visa application interview.

I DO NOT OPPOSE mandatory criminal background checks by Immigration Service and U.S. Consulate. I also do not oppose the U.S. Consulate AT VISA APPLICATION INTERVIEW POINT informing the lady applicant of her domestic violence rights and help resources, and the disclosure of any criminal background results and history information about the U.S. client.

I DO NOT IMPLY OR SUGGEST that there is any peculiar domestic violence problem or trend in the international or foreign romance field. In fact, to the contrary, I believe that domestic violence rates are in fact higher in domestic marriages than in foreign bride marriages. Certainly, divorce and marriage failure rates among foreign couples are much lower than among domestic couples where divorce rates reportedly are now over 50%.

However with the current post 09-11 sentiments in Congress favoring more restrictive immigration regulation, I believe that there is a prospect that this bill may be reported out of committee favorably and may have a chance to pass on the floors of Congress.

C. WHAT YOU CAN DO

Those of you with an interest in this field, be you owners, clients or friends, may wish to contact your local Congressman and Senator's offices, as well as the important committee members' offices, and make your views heard now before any final vote on this bill. We suggest phone call, e-mail, fax and registered letter.

SEE: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
CHAIRMAN JOHN HOSTETTLER, HOUSE SUB-COMMITTEE IMMIGRATION
CHAIRMAN SAXBY CHAMBLISS, SENATE SUB-COMMITTEE IMMIGRATION

You may also voice your views, if you wish, by filling out, printing and signing our Congressional Feedback Letter, and mailing it to our office. We will forward all Feedback Letters to the Chairmen of the Immigration Sub-Committees in Congress.

SEE "CONGRESSIONAL FEEDBACK LETTER"
(Online Fillable Form in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format)

You may monitor calendar events on the House Floor here:
http://clerk.house.gov/floorsummary/floor.html

You may monitor calendar events on the Senate Floor here:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/legislative_home.htm

My office is contacting several media outlets in an effort to allow me to voice my views. We will let you know if any media agree.

Good luck to all,

Gary Bala
USA Immigration Attorney
Pennsylvania USA