Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. This decision will affect many federal benefits not the least of which will be immigration. US Citizens will be able to sponsor their foreign-born same-sex spouses for permanent residence, foreign-born gay spouses can now be derivative dependents for employment-based immigration cases, and hardship waivers may be available to same-sex spouses if a foreign-national can show extreme hardship to the US Citizen husband or wife. In other words, immigration benefits that have been available to heterosexual married couples are now available to gay married couples.
The issue of offering same-sex spouse immigration benefits that was not included in the Senate immigration bill that passed today is therefore moot.
It looks like a lot is going on on the immigration front so I will be keeping this blog active as developments occur.
Please visit our firm’s websites at www.immigrantconnect.com and www.americaninvestorvisa.com and check out our page and like us on Facebook!
