Toward Immigration Equality

On February 12, US Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Uniting American Families Act (HR 1024 and S 424) which, if passed, will give GLBT couples the same immigration rights that heterosexual couples have.

Under current US immigration law, US citizens and permanent residents can sponsor their spouses for immigration purposes, but gay and lesbian Americans cannot. This means that if the foreign-national partner can’t obtain a residence permit any other way—green card, work visa, etc—the couple will either be torn apart or they have to move to another country.

The Uniting American Families Act would allow US citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for family-based immigration by meeting the same standard as different-sex couples. This would give the US immigration law similar to many Western nations, including New Zealand, which has had this for well over a decade.

One of the main reasons some gave for opposing the bill before is that they assumed that it would be used for fraudulent immigration—as if heterosexuals don’t already do that. At any rate, the bill provides harsh penalties for fraud, including a maximum five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

This is clearly a step in the right direction. The US Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents the US Government from recognising legal same-sex marriages performed in any US state or territory or foreign country, meaning that even legally married same-sex couples cannot be treated equally under US immigration law. When DOMA is finally repealed, that may help married same-sex couples, but un-married couples (like those in states that have outlawed marriage equality) will need the protections of the UAFA.

The main reason I moved to New Zealand in 1995, rather than Nigel moving to the US, is that the laws here made it possible for us to be together, while the laws of the US prevented it. After more than 13 years here together, our roots are deep and it’s frankly unlikely we’d move to the US. But as an American citizen it ought to be an option for me to sponsor my partner because equality is supposed to be my birthright. The UAFA, in whatever form it’s ultimately passed, will move us another step closer to securing America’s promise of freedom and liberty for GLBT citizens, too.

Update: This post has a follow-up (posted February 22, 2009). The follow-up has a list of co-sponsors in the House and Senate, a list I keep updating.