FAQ

MEMBERSHIP

Do I have to pay for any of your services?

You do have to pay for reading other members’ messages, for which you need to purchase credits (see below). If you place a phone call through us, you will be charged for that, as well. The rest of our services, however, are completely free (this includes registering a profile, searching our database and viewing other members’ profiles, sending messages and smiles).

How do I buy credits?

The easiest way is to purchase them online with a credit card (we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discovery). Just log in to your profile, go to Membership and buy the needed amount. If you don’t have a credit card, or don’t want to use it online, there are other options available.

What does one credit cost?

This depends on the amount you buy:

100 credits or more: $1 for each credit

55-99 credits: $1.09 for each credit

20-54 credits: $2 for each credit

How will the charge from your company show on my credit card statement?

It will show as "1st International Marriage Network", or more often as an abbreviation of the latter, like "1st Int'l Marr NTWK". 1st International Marriage Network is our parent company.

What determines the cost of opening a message from a woman?

A number of factors. Firstly, it depends on the number of men she is corresponding with; the more men she is writing to, the more expensive her letters will be to open (if she stops writing to one or more men, the price will go down). Secondly, it depends on her English skills (if she can’t read and write in English and has to use a translator, the price will be accordingly higher). Thirdly, if the lady has no Internet access at home and has to use a computer at her local dating agency, this will raise the cost, as well.

When can I contact a lady directly?

If you want to get a lady’s direct contact details, you will first need to fill out the IMBRA form, if you haven’t done that before (this concerns US citizens only); click here to download the form and requisite instructions. After that, there are two options. The first one (recommended) is to open 15 (fifteen) paid messages from the lady (the messages that you open before writing to a lady for the first time are free and don't count); at this point you have the right to request her contact details (or your money back, if for some unlikely reason they cannot be provided). To do this, go to her profile and click the button that says "Send contact info request". The other way is to pay a $50 fee, whereupon we will contact the lady and ask her permission to send you her contact details, but note that this money will not be refunded even if the lady refuses to disclose her contact info. Therefore you should make sure you have her consent before you proceed; if you haven't opened at least one paid message from the woman, you cannot apply for this option. Please note that exchanging personal contact information through our messaging system is not allowed, even if you do have 15 opened messages from a lady; if you want to exchange such information with a lady, contact us. Please do not try to send the lady your email address and other contact information in “encoded” form (i.e. written backwards): it won’t work and will only be a waste of your time.

What does the Requested Contacts page contain?

The Requested Contacts Page (which can be accessed from the menu on the left side of your control panel) contains the contact details that you have requested. Note that it is updated no sooner than your contact info request has been processed.

What is "trust level" on a female profile?

The trust level is a credibility rating given to a female profile by our staff. A staff member can rate a profile on one or more of four scales: passport, meeting, phone call, and correspondence. Passport scans, whenever provided, are rated on their quality and completeness; meetings, phone calls and correspondence are rated according to the feedback we receive on them from our customers. Combined, these ratings make up the trust level. Each category carries different weight (e.g., feedback on a meeting is more important than the passport scan); the exact formula is complex and classified, so it cannot be used to artificially raise the trust level. A trust level of 100% means that we have received definitive proof that the woman behind the profile is a real person, and all her communications originate from herself. This doesn't mean that anyone with less than 100% is automatically fake or dishonest; it only means that you can be reasonably sure of the woman's identity instead of completely sure.

What is a friends list?

It is not a list of people a member is corresponding with. To be on a member’s friends list, you have to send them an invitation which they can choose to accept. It can also be the other way around: a member sends you an invitation, and you accept it. Being a "friend" is a mutual thing. That means that if a member is on your friends list, you are automatically on theirs. You can delete any "friend" from your list by logging into your profile, going to "Communicator", then "Friend members", checking those you wish to delete and clicking "Delete from Friend List".

People on your friends list have access to your private photos, which are protected by your private password from everyone else.

Remember that the list of your "friends" is viewable by any member or even a visitor to the site. Having a lot of friends on your list or having just a few, or even none, is a personal choice. Friends listed on members' profiles mean different things to different people. For some, having a lot of friends demonstrates that they are popular. Some prefer not to list any friends to keep their relationships private. Yet for others listing just one person as a friend means they are serious about them. Use your own judgement in interpreting the meaning of a lady’s friends list or lack of it. Factor in the ratings of her pictures (how many votes and the average rating), and her popularity (more credits per letter means more people are writing to her).

How can I view a lady’s private pictures?

Private pictures are password protected, so you will have to write to the lady and request the password. It is better to do this after you have already established communication with that lady.

Can I talk to a lady on the phone?

Yes, you can order an interpreted phone call, which costs 1.8 credits per minute (1 credit if you don’t require translation). This should be done in advance because we need time to contact the lady’s local agency, or the lady herself, and make sure she will be available at the desired time. Please note that exchanging personal contact information during such phone calls is not allowed. Here is some advice on setting up your first phone call.

How do I know those women aren’t scammers?

Most of the women on our website are represented by local dating agencies, where they contact our representatives in person. Besides, we watch out for suspicious activity: if a member mass mails other members, uses certain words, etc, it triggers a red flag, and we run a thorough check on the member in question. Unfortunately, due to the large number of profiles, it is impossible to filter out all scammers. Therefore we urge our members to be on their guard and notify us of anything suspicious.

Are these women just trying to get out of their country by marrying a foreigner? Is she going to stay with me after she has moved to the United States?

We have to say up front that we cannot know the real intentions of our members. However, after you have corresponded with a lady for a while and, preferably, met her in person, you should have a pretty good idea of what she is about. Besides, in order to get unconditional permanent residency in the US she has to stay married to a US citizen for 2 years. Add processing time and you get about 3 years before she can leave. That's a lot of time for you to make a good impression on her :) Now, could a person be so calculating as to do this for a green card? It is possible, but in our experience most of the women coming here are honest and truly want to create a family. If her husband treats her with respect, she will stay. However, some guys can be jerks and get what they deserve. Then they cry all over the Internet about how she took advantage of them. According to the official figures, the divorce rate between international couples in US is several times lower than in regular American couples.

Isn’t it odd that some women here are looking for a man much older than themselves?

It is not uncommon for Russian women to marry older men, which may clash with American stereotypes. If you are going to marry a Russian woman, you might want to learn how to look beyond those. Of course, there are limits. If you are 40 and are looking for an 18-year-old bride, this might be a bit of a stretch, but 22-25 years old is ok. Remember that every person has their own standards. Some women don’t mind a significant age difference, while others do. They usually indicate their age preference in their profiles.

Are you compliant with the IMBRA law?

Yes, we are fully compliant. Upon request you will get IMBRA release that you might need for applying for her fiancee visa later. We are not happy about this law as it puts a lot of unnecessary burden on us and our clients, and we urge you to sign petitions to repeal it. However, as it stands today, the law is the law, so we are complying with it.

Have any of your clients actually found a wife through your website?

Yes, quite a few. You can read their testimonials.

The toll-free number listed on your site is not working.

If you are outside the continental US, you cannot use the US toll-free numbers. This includes our toll-free main and fax numbers. Outside of the continental US may or may not include Canada, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. For example some of our customers in Canada are able to call us on our toll free number, but others can't. If that's the case, please use our regular (toll) numbers or contact us via live chat free 24 hours a day.

What is your mailing address?

Here is our mailing address and other complete and updated contact information.You can forward all correspondence to this address, including payments, orders, and inquiries.

I haven't received a response to my email inquiry.

Most likely, your email provider has blocked the delivery of our email to you, because of its anti-spam policies. Sadly, many email providers, especially those like hotmail, yahoo, and AOL are blocking a lot of legitimate email messages because they suspect them to be SPAM. With today's enormous volume of SPAM on the Internet, email providers have to take steps to protect their users from huge amounts of unsolicited emails. They use automatic filters or rules by which they sort out messages into 3 categories: ones that should be delivered, ones that get deleted, and a category "in between" for those messages that end up in your "Bulk mail", "Junk mail" or similar folder. We never send unsolicited messages to anyone, yet some of our emails to our customers get blocked. If it does not help or you believe that's not the problem, contact us by phone or online chat and and we will be happy to help you. If you haven't received a response to your question via email, fist thing to do would be to check your "Bulk mail", "Junk mail" or similar folder. If it's there, please click "It's not spam" or similar button in your email program. If you don't see our message in your "Bulk mail", "Junk mail" or similar folder and you are using Hotmail or AOL please follow these instructions to unblock us.

I’ve sent several emails to your ladies and haven't received any responses.

First of all, login to your account and check your messages. Note that the ladies will not be replying directly to your email, but instead their messages are stored in your account. However, you should receive notifications from us about every message/response received. If you are not receiving them, please read the answer above to make sure you are receiving emails from us. If there are still no messages in your Inbox, make sure that you have a picture in your profile, and it is correctly displayed. Profiles without pictures get almost no replies. If you still get no response to more than 3 messages, let us know, and we will try to find out what's going on.

I can not send a message. The system says I have unopened mail from this member.

To protect the privacy of our members and to prevent spam, our system does not allow users to send a message to a member from whom you have 2 or more unopened messages. If you want to send him or her a message, you need to go back to your Communicator and open mail from her or him first. If you have accidentally deleted those unopened messages, please contact the administrator.

Why was my profile rejected?

If your profile was rejected, it must have violated some of our rules or seemed suspicious to our moderators. There are several things you can do to ensure your profile is not rejected next time:

- Post a picture. It must be a picture of yourself, with your face clearly visible. No nudity or private contact information on photos is allowed.

- Write a longer description. A profile with no description (or a meaningless or obscene one) will be rejected.

- Enter your private contact information (such as email, phone number) only in the fields specifically provided for it.

- Choose the country in which you are located at the time. If you normally live somewhere else, you can indicate that in your description.

- Provide your phone number.

I would like to know a little more about your company.

Please visit this page.

Next step. Travelling to Russia

How long does it take to get a visa to Russia or Ukraine?

If you have a passport that does not expire for least six months after the dates of your travel, we will fax you the visa support documents within 1-2 business days. Then you need to apply to the consulate for the visa. Visa processing to Russia takes about 2 weeks, but you can pay extra money to have it ready even the same business day. Add the time for mailing the documents to the Consulate and back. They accept express delivery, including FedEx next day, and can send you the documents back the same way if you provide a prepaid waybill. You can go in person to a Russian Consulate in New York, San Francisco or Seattle and get the visa the same day. It will cost around $300. Processing time is similar for a Ukrainian visa.

How safe is it in Russia?

It is quite safe in Russia and other CIS countries if you know where to go and what to do. It might be somewhat dangerous if you are lost and on your own. If you stay away from unsafe neighborhoods, don't flash your cash and follow the basic safety rules, you are going to be ok. It's a good idea to have the woman you are visiting pick you up at the airport and show you around.

Can I bring my laptop to Russia? Do I need an adaptor?

Yes, you can, but you may need a simple adaptor. As far as the customs office is concerned, there are no restrictions on bringing your personal laptop across the Russian border. Standard voltage in Russia and all other European countries is 220 volts (it is 110 in USA). This means you will need a step down transformer (an adaptor that changes voltage) for electric devices other than a laptop. Those could be bought at Sears or Radioshack at $20-$30. Laptops are the lucky exceptions in that they do not need a transformer, because their chargers normally take in any voltage from 110 volts to 250 volts. There may be laptop chargers out there that would not take 220 volts, but we have not seen one. Please check your charger first, before you fry your laptop! The acceptable voltage ("AC in") should be printed directly on the charger. However, even if your laptop can take 220 volts, you still need a simple adaptor. The reason is that the Russian electrical outlet has 2 round holes, while the American plug has 2 flat prongs. There is no way to fit one into the other. So you need to buy a cheap ($1-$3) adapter that has 2 holes for flat American prongs, and 2 round prongs on the other end, to plug into the Russian outlet. You can buy such adapters at many places, RadioShack, Sears, or even your local WalMart. Network and phone connectors are the same as in US. All of this applies to all other countries of the CIS.

How can I connect to the Internet in Russia?

If you are staying in an expensive hotel in a major city, they may have Wi Fi connection. Please check with your hotel first. Needless to say that Wi Fi standard is the same throughout the world so you won't have any problems. If this does not apply to you and you have to use good old dial-up, read on. 1. If you don’t mind using a public computer, there are a lot of Internet cafes in almost every city of the former Soviet republics. Just ask the hotel personnel or a taxi driver. The is usually about $1 per hour. 2. If you want to go online from your own laptop, it may be more difficult. Unfortunately, neither Russia nor any other CIS country has a nation-wide dial-up Internet provider, like AOL in the USA. So you have to find a local provider in the city where you are staying. Again, the hotel personnell could help you locate one. You can also find one on the Internet before your trip. You should be prepared to prepay your Internet access in cash, because local providers normally do not accept credit cards. The rates are usually $.50-$1.00 per hour. Another option is to take your laptop to the nearest Internet cafe and ask the staff to connect it to the Internet. They are always willing to do so at a regular hourly rate.

Will my radio/CD player/boombox/other electronics work in Russia?

Yes, but you need an AC adapter. Standard voltage in Russia and all other European countries is 220 volts (it is 110 in USA). This means you will need a step down transformer (an adaptor that changes voltage) for electric devices other than a laptop. Those could be bought at Sears or Radioshack at $20-$30. We have decent ones for sale for $15 plus shipping. Contact us to order one.

Will my cell phone work in Russia?

It depends on your provider. All European providers use the GSM standard, so if you are from a European country, your phone will work fine in Russia. You are likely to be charged premium roaming charges, so please check with your provider. They may have a calling plan that covers Russia so you won't incurr roaming charges.

In USA: Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint use the older proprietary CDMA standard. Those phones WILL NOT work in Russia at all. On the other hand, T-Mobile and Cingular use the more widely accepted GSM standard and will work in Russia. Usually you do not need a quad-band "world phone". In Russia the most widely used frequency is GSM 1800. Most GSM phones offered on the US market can operate on this frequency. On rare occasions in Russia you may encounter coverage by the older GSM 900 standard. To get a signal in these locations, you have to have a phone that can work on this frequency. Consult your cell phone manual or call your wireless service provider to find out what frequences your phone can operate on.

Normally, with USA providers like T-Mobile and Cingular, your roaming charges in Russia will be about $1.50 per minute, which is a lot. If you need to call a number in Russia from your US cell phone while in Russia, you will also incur international long distance charges (alternatively you can use our calling card to at least save on the latter). But there is a better way if you have a GSM phone. It is a bit complicated but you will not only get decent rates for calling Russia and USA, but you will also get a Russian cell phone number without spending a lot. The easiest way would be to buy a cell phone in Russia, but prepare to spend about $150 even on a basic one. What you can do instead is buy a SIM card in Russia and insert it into your US phone. The SIM card comes with a brand new Russian cell phone number, and if you purchase it in your destination city, you will get local calling rates. SIM cards are sold at every wireless store and cost about $5. There is one last trick, though. To prevent their customers from switching to a competitor, T-Mobile and Cingular are now "locking" their customer's phones so that a SIM card from a different provider cannot be used. To use a Russian SIM card you have to "unlock" the phone. You can find such a service locally (usually in cell phone repair shops) or just type "unlock phone" on eBay.

Russian cell phone providers offer prepaid service only. They do not offer monthly calling plans. Airtime is somewhat expensive, compared to US. Local calls are 5 to 15 cents a minute, long distance calls are 15-80 cents a minute. International calls can be as high as $3 per minute. Calls made from 9 PM to 6 AM are about twice cheaper than daytime calls. You can prepay any amount at any wireless store or any bank. There are also special machines in most supermarkets which accept payments for cellular service. They have an English interface as well.

There are a few cellular service providers on the Russian market, and we are reluctant to recommend a specific one, but if we absolutely must recommend one to a foreign traveller, we’d go with "MTS". It's not the cheapest one, but it seems to be the largest, has the best coverage and has wireless stores everywhere. Plus, it also operates in Ukraine and other CIS countries.

How do I call Russia and other countries of the former USSR? What does it cost?

In most cases, you need to dial 011 if you are in the US; next the country code, then the area code and phone number. The country code for Russia is 7, for Ukraine it is 380, for Belarus it is 375. If you dial directly from your home or work phone without using a calling card, or signing up for a special international call discount program with your long distance provider, the cost may be very high ($2 per minute or even higher).

Remember, if you get stuck, you can always call our bilingual operator/interpreter toll-free 1-866-974-6453 and have her dial the number for you. She will stay online and will interpret your conversation real time.

What is the weather like in Russia?

Russia is a vast country and it's impossible to describe its climate in a few sentences. In fact we have written a whole article about it. But generally speaking, the climate of the central parts of Russia where the majority of our clients travel is not as bad as portrayed in movies, and somewhat resembles the American Midwest, only a bit colder but less windy. For other parts of CIS read on.