Options on the Table

Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Federal Government does not recognize same-sex couples, even if they're married in a state where gay marriage is legal. Without federal recognition, same-sex couples are denied the 1000+ federal benefits, one of which is the ability to sponsor their foreign partners for permanent residence, commonly known as the green card. As a result, thousands of same-sex couple face a difficult choice: separation from the love of their lives, or self-imposed exile.

Efforts are under way to address this issue. Let's look at the three options that are currently on the table.

Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)-As a Standalone Bill

The UAFA basically seeks to modify the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to replace "spouse" with "permanent partner" , thus enabling U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor their partners for immigration.

UAFA was first introduced in 2000, several years after DOMA was enacted. On Feb. 12, 2009, UAFA was introduced for the sixth time, and as of today has 112 sponsors in congress.

As a standalone, UAFA will have to be recommended by the congressional immigration subcommittee for a floor vote. Despite having been introduced in every congress since 2000 and garnering 100+ co-sponsors, UAFA has never made it out of the committees. Many in congress cite "potential for fraud" as the reason they do not sponsor the bill. Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton made the same argument when they were running for the Democratic Nomination during the 2008 election.

Some argue that with the Democrat control of Congress, and with Barack Obama as president, UAFA now stands a much better chance of being passed by congress.

UAFA as Part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR)

CIR failed back in 2007 despite having support from George W Bush and several prominent Republican senators. Congressional leaders and the White House have talked about reintroducing CIR in 2009. The hope is to insert UAFA into the CIR, riding the momentum and support behind CIR to victory.

Partial Repeal of DOMA

Under this legislation, Section 3 of the DOMA will be repealed, granting all federal benefits currently available to married straight couples to the following group:

1. Married Same-sex couples;
2. Same-sex couples who entered into a civil union or domestic partnership.

Note that under this legislation, one does not have to be a resident of a state that recognizes contracted same-sex relationship to receive these federal benefits. E.g. a couple living in Alabama would be able to get married in Iowa and enjoy these benefits, even though their home state does not recognize their marriage.

So far it's still unclear if this bill will recognize contracted same-sex relationships from other countries, say civil union in the UK or marriage in Canada.

What about people whose same-sex partners are not in the US, you may ask?

Well, among these 1000+ federal rights, there's something called a "Nonimmigrant Visa for a Fiance(e)", a.k.a. the K1 visa, which is issued to the fiance(e) of a US citizen. Here's the wiki on the K1 visa: "A K1 visa requires a foreigner marry his or her US citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry, or leave the US. Once the couple marries, the foreign citizen can adjust status to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States."

To avail of this visa, In general, the two people must have met in person within the past two years.