How Do Matchmakers Screen Matches?

The quick answer

Matchmakers screen matches through a set of separate checks. The usual ones are an intake interview, a review of photos against the real person, an identity check, a live video call, a question about relationship status, and sometimes a criminal background check or a sex offender registry search. Which of these a company runs, and how carefully, varies widely.

“Vetted” is not a standard term. It has no legal or industry definition, so it tells you that something was checked, not what. Each check confirms something narrow: an interview shows the person can answer questions, an identity check shows a document matches a face, a background check shows what records were found in the places searched. None of them confirms intentions.

Screening also runs both ways. A careful matchmaker screens its paying clients, and an international marriage broker covered by U.S. law must collect your background information and disclose it to the woman before she can agree to be contacted.

What “vetted” usually covers

Most matchmaking screening falls into five layers. A provider may run all five or only the first two.

1. Intake interview. A conversation about relationship history, intentions, lifestyle and dealbreakers. This is the core of most screening and the hardest to fake over several conversations, but it rests on what the person chooses to say.
2. Photo and identity check. Comparing profile photos with the person on camera, and sometimes checking a government ID. Match Guarantee says on its FAQ page that when a woman joins with only professional photos, it asks her for selfies or everyday photos so clients see a realistic picture.
3. Live video. A real-time call shows that the person exists and matches the photos. It is a strong check against stolen-photo profiles and a weak one against anything else.
4. Status and intent questions. Whether the person is single, divorced or separated, and whether they want marriage. Documents such as a divorce decree can support the answer, but marital status is hard to confirm across borders.
5. Record searches. A criminal background check through a screening company, a public registry search, or both.

Match Guarantee describes its own database as women “personally vetted by our experienced matchmakers” on its pricing page. That is a first-party description. As with any provider, the useful follow-up is which of the five layers the phrase includes.

The how international matchmaking works guide has a table of what each type of check can and cannot establish. This page covers the next questions: which checks need consent, what the law requires, and where the gaps are.

Background checks and the law

A formal report usually needs the person’s consent

Background screening companies that compile criminal and other records are generally consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Act lets them furnish a report only for listed permissible purposes, and one of those is “in accordance with the written instructions of the consumer to whom it relates” (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)(2)).

For matchmaking, the practical consequence is simple. If a provider says it runs background checks on candidates, the candidates should have signed an authorization. Ask whether they did. A provider that claims formal checks but has no consent step is either describing something else or skipping a step.

Free public sources are different. Anyone can search the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, which the U.S. Department of Justice runs with state, territorial and tribal governments. It searches registries for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and Indian Country.

Some states make dating services disclose whether they check

Texas has a law written for online dating services. It defines a criminal background check as a name search for felony convictions, convictions requiring sex offender registration, and family violence findings, run against databases that “in the aggregate provide substantially national coverage” (§ 106.003). A provider that does not check each member before allowing contact must disclose that in bold capital letters, in at least 12-point type, on its website (§ 106.004). A provider that does check must say so, state how many years of criminal history the check covers, and state that “criminal background checks are not foolproof” (§ 106.005).

New York takes a different approach. When an online dating service bans a member for using a false identity or for a significant risk of seeking money by fraud, it must notify New York members who received and responded to that member’s messages, within 24 hours and no later than three days, with a warning not to send money (General Business Law § 394-c, subdivision 10).

These laws are aimed at online dating services. A personal matchmaker that works mostly offline may not be covered, so do not assume a disclosure exists. Ask for it.

International brokers must screen you

The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act reverses the direction most clients expect. A covered international marriage broker must collect the U.S. client’s certified statement of protection orders, specified criminal convictions, marital history, prior visa sponsorships, children’s ages and places lived since 18, and search the national sex offender registry. It must then give that information to the foreign national client in her primary language and obtain her signed consent before releasing her contact details to you (8 U.S.C. § 1375a(d)).

So in a compliant international introduction, the woman learns more verified information about you than you are likely to learn about her. If a provider releases her contact details before you have completed a certification, ask why.

This section summarizes published statute text as of October 20, 2026. It is not legal advice.

What screening cannot tell you

Every check has gaps. Knowing them keeps a clean result from doing more work than it should.

Gap	Why it exists	What helps
Intentions and future behavior	No record or interview can confirm what someone will do	Time, consistency, and meeting in person
Foreign records	U.S. criminal databases and the national registry cover U.S. jurisdictions only	Ask what the provider checks in the person’s own country
Name changes and aliases	A name search finds records under the name searched	Ask whether prior names and dates of birth were included
Unreported or unprosecuted conduct	A record search only finds what reached a court or registry	References, and paying attention to how they treat others
Current relationship status	A divorce decree shows a past event, not whether someone is in a relationship now	Direct questions, and a life you can see over several months
Changes after the check	A check is a snapshot on one date	Ask when it was run, and whether it is repeated

Texas’s own disclosure rule captures the point: the statute requires providers that run checks to tell users the checks are not foolproof.

Checks you should run yourself

A matchmaker’s screening adds a layer. It does not replace your own judgment, and the cheapest checks are ones you can do in minutes.

1. Reverse image search the photos. The Federal Trade Commission recommends a reverse image search of a profile picture to see whether it is attached to another name.
2. Insist on live video before anything else. The FTC lists an inability to meet in person as a standard romance scam sign. A match introduced by a matchmaker should be easy to see on camera.
3. Search the national registry. It takes a name and a state, and it is free at nsopw.gov.
4. Never send money. The FTC’s rule is to never send money or gifts to someone you have not met in person, however the introduction began.
5. Watch for consistency. Details that hold steady over weeks are a better signal than any single document.

The international dating safety guide expands these into a full checklist for meeting someone abroad, and the red flags when dating in your 50s guide covers the warning signs that matter most at that age.

What to ask a matchmaker about screening

Ask these in a consultation and ask for the answers in writing. A provider that runs real checks can answer them in a few sentences.

Question	A useful answer names
Which checks do you run on every candidate?	Specific checks, not “we vet everyone”
Who performs them?	Staff, a partner agency abroad, or a named screening company
Which records are searched, and in which countries?	The jurisdictions covered, and what is not covered
Do candidates authorize the background check in writing?	A consent step, if formal reports are used
When was each check run, and is it repeated?	A date, and a policy for people who stay in the database long term
What do you do if a check finds something?	A clear rule for exclusion
What do you check about me, and who sees it?	Your own intake, and any IMBRA disclosure for international searches

The last question links screening to privacy. Anything a matchmaker learns about you may be shown to the people you are introduced to, and the matchmaking privacy guide covers what to ask about that. For the wider list of questions to ask before paying, see how to choose a matchmaker, and for what the job involves from intake to feedback, what a matchmaker does.

The bottom line

Good screening is specific. It names the checks, the records searched, the dates, and the limits, and it treats you as someone to be screened as well. When a provider can tell you exactly what “vetted” means, the word is useful. When it cannot, treat it as a marketing word and rely on your own checks.

A free consultation with Match Guarantee is a chance to ask the questions above about its own process and to request the answers in writing.