U.S. ends ban on green cards for gay spouses

USPA News - The U.S. federal government will no longer prevent foreigners who are married to an American citizen of the same sex from obtaining family-based immigrant visas such as a "green card," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Monday. The decision stems from last week`s landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had denied more than 1,100 federal benefits to married individuals in same-sex relationships.

It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in September 1996. "Effective immediately, I have directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to review immigration visa petitions filed on behalf of a same-sex spouse in the same manner as those filed on behalf of an opposite-sex spouse," Napolitano said in a statement released on late Monday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the changes would apply for all American citizens who are in a same-sex marriage, even if they now live in a state that does not recognize their same-sex marriage. "USCIS looks to the law of the place where the marriage took place when determining whether it is valid for immigration law purposes," it said. Support for same-sex marriage has increased across the United States in recent years, with now 13 states and the District of Columbia performing them. A Gallup poll in 1996 found that only 27 percent of Americans were in favor of same-sex marriage, but the latest survey conducted last year found that 50 percent of Americans are now in favor of allowing marriages between people of the same gender.