Internet Marriage/Contact Agencies

There are many agencies advertising contact services over the Internet. Some act as a matching service, others offer visa advice, and some offer both. Those that offer assistance in acquiring visas for students are not offering a legal service. Student visas to the United States are not acquired through an Internet contact agency.

The Consular Section has received numerous reports from American citizens and others who have been victims of internet fraud, in which the unsuspecting person has wired money to a person or an agency with the agreement that a young woman would visit the person in the United States for either marriage or study purposes.

One agency with an address in Kyiv offers initial contact with a young woman, then a budget with all the expenses to be paid before the woman can go to the United States, including visa fees. After this agency has successfully received several bank or wire transfers, the last attempt to get money is the agency saying that the woman must have a certain amount of cash for customs insurance before she can enter the United States. It is often at this point that men will write and ask if this is a legitimate request (it is not), and we must inform them that they have been victims of internet fraud. This non-existent agency (street addresses they use are fake) has changed names over the last year; each time enough people complain and they are blacklisted, they invent another name for their agency.

Even if the woman you have met does exist, and is honestly trying to go to visit you in the U.S., it is very unlikely that she would get a visa for this purpose. We advise you not to send money to people or agencies who have advertised their services over the internet. The U.S. Embassy cannot act as a law enforcement agency in a foreign country, and it is unlikely you will recover your money.

You may want to check a web site: http://www.womenrussia.com/blacklist.htm for more information on this subject. The U.S. Government does not endorse or recommend any of the marriage agencies listed. For information on how to apply for various types of visas, such as student or fiancee visas, please check this web site. Fiancee visas must be applied for at your Citizenship and Immigration Service office in the U.S., and one requirement is that you have met your fiancée in person within two years before filing the fiancée visa petition.