For InnocentVixen - How agencies work

[michaelb]

Everyone has been really nice and the forum in general is very helpful, I'm still waiting for someone to explain me about those personal introduction agencies *hint*

Are you really that innocent? OK, here goes. There are three types of services, although a given agency may participate in one, two or all three of them.

1. Address sellers. Lady signs up, gives personal details (age, children, religion, education, etc.), some pictures, 'kind of man I'd like to meet' / 'I'm faithful, happy, and a good cook' sentence or two, Gentleman signs up, looks through the ladies available, selects one or more, pays the fee, gets her address and/or phone and/or email, depending on which she is willing to release. Under the relatively new IMBRA act, the agency must give the ladies certain information (in the lady's native language) about the process in general, her rights under the US law and particular information (marriage history, criminal history, etc.) about the individual men and the lady must review the information and approve her information to be released (on a 'man by man' basis, that is, she can chose to release it to some men, but not to others) BEFORE they are allowed to give the men the ladies' information. ---Variation of this is "All correspondence must go through the agency"--not a good deal, they WON'T give the man the lady's actual address nor will they permit her to give it to him, correspondence is via email only, and they read (and edit) the emails and charge either a 'translation' fee or 'handling' fee for each email. This of course, is NOT a good deal and actually is a common scam. If the couple needs a translation service and chooses to use the one offered by the agency, that's one thing, but if the agency REQUIRES that they use their translation service and won't let them exchange actual addresses, phone numbers etc. that's a scam.

2. Group tours. Lady signs up (same details as before), periodically the agency arranges a 'tour' or 'party', a large group of men and women come together either at the agency's facility (if large enough) or at a hall rented from a hotel, dance club, restaurant, or convention facility. Usually there is a 'party atmosphere', with hor de vores (maybe even a buffet), drinks and possibly music for dancing. Agency provides several interpreters and usually one or two photographers.

3. Individual meetings. Lady signs up (same details as before), men select ladies they are interested in, notifies agency of when he is planning to travel, then travels to the agency's facility. Ladies are notified a few days in advance "So and so guy will be in town on such and such date, and he would like to meet you" (or sometimes they are told "he's here right now", particularly if he didn't have a good time with and/or was rejected by the ladies he chose in advance). Lady shows up at the appointed time and place (at least that's the plan, a lot of men complain that ladies they've invited who are 20 years younger than they are and look like models don't show up, wonder why?), agency provides interpreter, who, if requested, also acts as guide and adviser.

I'm not sure where IMBRA fits into method 2 or 3, but perhaps one of our resident lawyers can explain that part. If I got part of it wrong, or left out something anyone feels is necessary, feel free to expound.

[InnocentVixen]

Are you really that innocent?

for a vixen, yes quite innocent actually 

Thanks for the reply... now I know the 3 types of services and how they work, which is more than enough information for a guy, the "client" if he wanted to choose one.

But I'm a female interested in being listed, so every single female where the agency is located is accepted? don't they have requirements? what if the woman lives in a near by city? is it really just calling/emailing your info and wait for them to contact you? why do most sites do not have a registration form?

I had even more questions of that sort, but unless I move to Colombia and they allow me in an agency there; odds are I'll just have to keep looking by myself in dating sites. Still it might be useful information

  maybe I could make my own site...
Free Mexican Bride _{if you convince her you are the one she's been looking for}

[michaelb]

Each agency has their own forms, policies and methods, you will have to contact each agency that interests you to learn their particulars. Another option for you, particularly with you excellent English skills and already having a visa? (You mentioned that you go to San Diego whenever you want, unless I misunderstood) is to simply enroll in one of the 'mainstream' US sites, such as Match.com or EHarmony. 

[InnocentVixen]

I had never heard of this agencies before, so I was pretty excited by the idea of them and thought that was the best way to find men who wanted a serious relationship, but there aren't any here so I'll just forget about it.

yes, I've had a passport and visa since i was a baby and my parents mentioned a long time ago that I could even move to USA without problems if I wanted to, it only takes a bit of paperwork after all; but if I find the right person, and he gives me the choice to live in Mexico, USA or somewhere else, the states would be my last option.

A lot of the big dating sites sort of divide it seems, i made an account in match.com and as soon as I put Mexico as my country it sent me to match.com.mx and guess what? all my "compatible" results where mexican, sure I could look for people in other places, but odds are I will not appear in their results unless they happen to search within my area, and that lowers my chances; I also tried a place called chemistry.com, I loved their concept because they focus on personality, but no service for Mexico, so when there is, they'll probably divide the service too.

I'll check EHarmony, thanks.

[soltero]

You could always contact http://www.latineuro.com/front_door.html (LatinEuro). They are a correspondence agency based out of Miami. They have 5 major sections (Brazil, Latin/Caribbean, Colombia, Africa, USA) and the Mexicanas are listed under the Latin/Caribbean section. As the name suggests, they cater to clients from Europe, but mainly the US. It is an option, and will place you on the world stage as far as correspondence agencies go.

Also, if you are interested in participating in Chemistry.com, I would think that in order to get listed, you could put your place of residence as San Diego and explain later where you actually live. I don't know how it works, so maybe not...

[raycjs]

I met my present wife though an agency in Colombia
i used a very popular agency owned by Jamie. He runs a great company
and many guy's from this board have used his service and found it to be great
and have also found there wives.

Best of luck
Ray

[InnocentVixen]

@soltero:
That sounds perfect, I think I'll contact them, thank you so much!
and about chemistry, I don't feel comfortable lying, it feels like starting out with the wrong foot, but EHarmony was not a problem and it works about the same way, it even gave me the option to where to look, including "anywhere", my matches turned out to be a bit young for my taste, but from the information on their profiles, decently compatible.

@raycjs:
Yes, Jamie is quite famous here I noticed, but I am Mexican and live in Baja California, but thanks anyways

[jm21-2]

There are a lot of dating services out there. Have you tried www.match.com ? They seemed to be a bit more international than some of the other dating sites. Amigos.com might also be something to try, as it's more oriented to guys who are seeking Latinas. I'd imagine you'd have better options with a dating service than a matchmaking agency like Michaelb described, but maybe run into difficulties getting the guy to come visit (though I bet most guys are much more willing to visit you in Baja as compared to a girl from Colombia).

I don't know how it is in Europe, but here in America the men outnumber the women on dating sites anywhere from 4:1 to about 40:1. My experience was that for every decent girl there were a few dozen guys trying to impress her...not so great for us guys, but maybe good for you, haha. Guys like the idea of being able to "vet" the girls a bit before getting involved (is she college educated? does she have children? what religion is she? etc...), but girls here don't seem to like the idea of online dating. And I guess there are a lot of weirdos online.

[InnocentVixen]

Hi jm21-2 thanks for the reply,
I did try match.com but they not only focus on distance, they focus on country, in my results I would get men living in Mexico who were farther away from me than other places in the states, and that means I appeared only in results of people living in Mexico, so I gave up on that site.

utopiacowboy recommended cybercupido.com over amigos.com, but I have to wait for my profile to be published, I just posted an update on what I've been trying in case you are interested:
http://www.planet-love.com/forum/index.php?topic=3921.15

again thanks everyone for the help.

[utopiacowboy]

I, for one, am very interested in your progress. You seem like a lovely and sensible young woman who deserves a guy who is crazy about you. It could happen.

[jm21-2]

I haven't used any [EDIT: American] dating sites in a long time, so you'll have to forgive my ignorance. But you know, what can be bad for guys is sometimes good for girls on these sites. If a guy complains about women not responding much to him on one site, it might mean it's because the girls have such good options they can ignore him.

In any case, good luck in your search. There aren't many guys here who go out of their way to meet a girl from a foreign country, but I imagine there are plenty who could be easily convinced  . Whenever a friend asks me "why would you look for a foreign girl??" I send him some links to the profiles of some girls who've shown interest in me, they go "oh, damn, I should be looking there," and that's basically the end of the conversation, heh. It is very hard to meet quality women here in the states, especially if you're 25+.

[raycjs]

Innocentvixen

I would like to recommend to you that you follow S.F. lead.
I would post on this board some pictures and some info about yourself
we all have many friends and family looking for a good women to start a family with
I for one have a very good friend of mine that lives hear in south Florida and has a very good job and knows how to treat a women. He has never been married and he is 33 years old 5'6" tall and a good looking guy... Not as good looking as me...Ha Ha
he has a good job and enjoys life. My new wife thinks he is a very nice person and wants to take him to Colombia to meet a good women she feels he would make a great husband. If you would like you can PM me with your email address and i can send you a few photo's of him and then in return you can send me a few photo's of your self and i will show him if the two of you like what you see and hear i will put the two of you together and you can see where it goes.


Best of luck to you

Ray

[InnocentVixen]

Thank you all for the good advice, I just posted my profile

http://www.planet-love.com/forum/index.php?topic=3940.0

I've been a bit busy so just logged in to post it and check on new messages, the pictures will have to wait because I have to go.

@utopiacowboy : muchas gracias, I hope it happens too!
@jm21-2 : you have a very good point, I'll check it out as soon as I have time
@raycjs : he sounds great, I'll PM you my email