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Angie and Estefania

09/04/10 15:49 Filed in: Living In Separation
Angie & Estefania
I, Angie (US national) met Estefania (Spanish national) while we were both living in London in early 2009. At the time I was on a two year visa which expired on March 5, 2010. We tried everything we could to keep me in the UK but there was no hope due to the status of my previous visa. I packed my belongs and left behind the life I had built for myself but most important I left behind the woman I love and moved back to the US on March 10, 2010. While Estefania has since returned back to Spain to try and obtain a student visa, we are now about to walk down the long road that so many bi-national couples in America are walking down. OUCH!!! This really hurts!! (photo; personal; Angie and Estefania; "...taken in London where we first met.")

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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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