Eleanor & Fumiko

23/02/09 10:39 Filed in: Living In Exile
eleanorfumikoplay
"Why I came here - Eleanor & Fumiko" Canada Embraces Love Exiles. Lesbians put down roots after 22 years in Limbo." Eleanor Batchelder, an American, and Fumiko Ohno of Tokyo lived that reality for 22 years until a year ago January, when the lesbian couple landed as permanent residents in Toronto – one of many "love exiles" settling here.
Same-sex marriages are legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway and South Africa, but these jurisdictions stipulate that at least one person in the partnership be a resident or citizen. Canada is unique because its immigration policy allows non-national gay couples – whether they are married or in a common-law relationship – to immigrate here legally.
Ohno, 60, fluent in Spanish, met Batchelder, 68, in 1986 while on a trip to New York. The two were just friends initially; Ohno knew Batchelder had three children and didn't expect her to be a lesbian. The rest is history. Read article Toronto Star - Watch Video

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Americans take it for granted that if they fall in love with a foreigner, they will be able to sponsor their partner for residency in the United States. But there is no such option for same-sex couples. It simply does not matter how long a couple has been together, how devoted they are to each other or even if they are legally married in Massachusetts, California (before Prop 8) or a country that allows it; if the partners are the same sex, their relationship is irrelevant in the American immigration system. A matter of fact, if our marriages become known to an immigration official, it would be evidence enough (to them) of a reason to want to stay permanently in the U.S. and would be an automatic ground to deny our spouses entry, or even a visa in the future.



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