BY 429Magazine
DOMA may be no more, but a myriad of questions remain because of the mismatch between federal and state law. In some states, same-sex marriages are recognized, and so same-sex couples enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples. In other states, marriage rights aren’t so clear, and here we pose an answer to one issue: immigration, a critical question for the estimated 26,000 same-sex couples in which one partner is not a legal citizen.
Now, with DOMA in the dirt, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services will cease to make discriminatory distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual married couples. For the last two years, the agency maintained a list of same-sex visa petitions that were denied under DOMA. These denials will be reversed without requiring couples to submit new applications. A marriage is a marriage. Fortunately for LGBT couples, even in states where same-sex marriage is prohibited, all couples are afforded immigration rights, gay or straight.
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