Citizen Chris
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Chris and Anderson

03/07/08 23:51 Filed in: Living In Exile
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As of October 2006, I’ve gone solo again, but not really. I moved from Washington to Rio De Janeiro to be with my partner after two years very long distance. His unconditional love and support has changed my life, and so I am happy to change more of it to be with him. Since he is Brazilian, we have not been able to obtain a visa to bring him to the U.S., and my country does not allow gay citizens to sponsor foreign same-sex partners for citizenship here. His country does. So for the time being, we’ll (finally) be together in Brazil, a place I have loved from the first time I stepped foot there. At the same time, living in Brazil on a tourist visa means I can't stay longer than 90 days per visit or 180 days per year, so I return often to the U.S., and we even moved to Buenos Aires for the last months of 2007 after I maxed on Brazil time for read more Citizen Crain (photo: Junior Magazine, Citizen Crain)

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Kevin and Vini

19/06/08 00:02
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Vini and I fell very much in love, and I realized this was the guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And this, of course, presented some problems. He lives in São Paulo - I live in Washington. Without going into the long road we traveled, it was clear that due to the legal situation in the U.S., if this relationship was to be anything like what we both wanted, I would have to immigrate to Brazil. (Interestingly enough, my friend Chris was reaching the same conclusion about his life at the same time, and it's been nice to have someone to relate to in all of this.) So we thought it through very carefully, and luckily due to the fact that I am an international consultant who works entirely in Latin America and the Caribbean -- and have not really had to be in Washington for any professional reason for quite some time -- this would be a very easy scenario to imagine doing, and benefitting from. Especially since the cost of living in Brazil is half that of the U.S., and read more on Club Whirld (photo: Citizen Crain Blog)

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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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