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Currently, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevents immigration officials (USCIS) from recognizing gay marriages, even from states or countries where they are now legal. This is true of nonimmigrant visas, permanent residency, naturalization, many waivers, and defenses to removal.

For example, current law allows opposite-sex spouses of nonimmigrant visa holders (such as an H-1B or L-1A) to accompany their spouses to the U.S. This same right is not extended to same-sex couples. However, the State Department regulations permit a cohabiting partner of a nonimmigrant visa holder to apply for a visitor’s visa in order to accompany the principal nonimmigrant to the US. Same-sex partners could also qualify under this policy provided they can document the long-term nature of the relationship. Unlike a dependent visa granted to a spouse whose duration is for the length of the principal visa holder’s stay, the visitor visa granted to a same-sex partner generally has a one-year duration and must be renewed every six months. Moreover, unlike L-2 visa holders (spouses of L-1A visa holders), cohabiting partners are also ineligible to work while in the US.

Same-sex marriage, Civil Unions, or Domestic Partnerships are now recognized, at least to some extent, by the States of California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom all have nationwide laws that grant same-sex partners a range of important rights, protections and obligations.

On the same day that Vermont’s House and Senate voted to override GOP Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, the Washington (D.C.) City Council voted 12-0 Tuesday in favor of allowing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be recognized in the nation’s capital. According to CNN, President Obama will sign a memorandum on June 17, 2009 granting some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

It is clear that we may see sooner than later a re-examination of the federally mandated Defense of Marriage Act, which, as stated earlier, forbids the Federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages

Tags: Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, domestic partnerships, Gay marriage, immigration, Same Sex unions, USCIS

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 3:26 pm and is filed under immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.