Dating Show Features Citizens and Foreigners

Dec. 4, 2007— -- A California-based production company says it's looking for a network to air a new dating show that promises to set up American singles with immigrants looking to fall in love and maybe score a Green Card too.

In the midst of a national debate on immigration, "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen," could be seen as a mirror of national sentiment, a critique of the Byzantine bureaucracy foreigners must negotiate to become citizens or as its producer claims, just as fun.

In the tradition of "The Dating Game," which ran in the 1960s and 1970s, three legal immigrants looking to meet a citizen are quizzed by an American national, before they are chosen for a date.

"The show is basically a dating show with a twist," said Executive Producer Eddie Rivera.

The show's producers have filmed one bare-bones episode, which has been posted on the Internet and aired on a local cable station in Los Angeles.

"One will get to stay in the country; two others will possibly be deported," goes the tagline on an Internet promotion.

Rivera said that "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen" makes no promises of legal U.S. citizenship, and is only an opportunity to meet someone for a date.

"I think people will be surprised to see how the show really works. No one will get a free pass; we're not giving away the chance to be a citizen."

The show is being produced by Morusa Media, a company with no Web site. ABC News could find no evidence of its registration in California. In different reports the creator of the program has been called both Adrian Martinez and Adrian Rodriguez.

Rivera insisted the program was not a hoax and that the show's producers were in touch with several interested networks, though he would not name them. He said Morusa was an established company that was also behind an Internet radio site that plays music for pets called dogcatradio.com.

Falling in love and getting married, no matter how a couple meets, are the first -- and perhaps most enjoyable steps --