Thursday, 27 June 2013

Glad Notes: What does the DOMA repeal mean for immigration?

A few months ago I blogged this photo of one of Philadelphia's murals. This mural was completed in 2002, and the mural arts website states "It's a street party in an idealized Philadelphia".

The issue that the repeal of DOMA brings to the fore is that of equality between all of the residents and citizens that live in this big broad country. The New York Times published an excellent history of the cultural and political movements that led to where we are now.

The DOMA repeal is a step towards equality for all married couples in the eyes of the government. As Michael Barbaro from the New York Times noted:
As far as I understand it, repealing DOMA gives equal benefits access to couples who are married and live where their marriage is recognized. It does not force (or even encourage) other states to recognize all marriages, or give equal benefits access to all couples. Incidentally, gay marriage is banned in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and most of the US states, so the mural in Philadelphia is still an "idealized" street party.

Now, as I'm an immigrant to the US, and an immigrant purely because of my marriage, I'm interested in understanding what this means for US spousal immigration.

There was originally language to cover same-sex marriages in the latest US immigration bill, but it's been removed. However, US spousal immigration requires a marriage to be legal and recognized in the state or country where the marriage took place. Now that DOMA is being repealed, the federal government does not determine the legality of a same-sex marriage, the states do.

Previously, gay binational couples could not settle in the US at all, as reported in a NYT article I linked a while back. Now, it seems, they can.

Can anyone let me know if I've understood this correctly?

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