Immigration Bill Could Destroy Binational Gay Couples

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/12/121905immigration.htm

LGBT civil rights groups are calling on the Senate to reject portions of legislation aimed at protecting America's borders but as written could have a severe impact on binational same-sex couples.

The "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act" is awaiting Senate action. It cleared the House last Friday.

Immigration policies already prohibit gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens from sponsoring their foreign national partners for immigration benefits

Currently, a foreign national in a relationship with an American citizen is forced to live out of status and is committing a civil violation, not a criminal offense.

. . . consider getting a Vermont civil union and applying to move to the UK as civil partners under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). The processing time is only about six months, it doesn't have all the intrusive bullshit and delays of Canada's ridiculous immigration programme (which takes years and tens of thousands of dollars), and you and your partner will both get the right to live and work in the UK -- after five years, the right to apply for British nationality.

I am a math teacher, would that count, or are we talking doctors, computer programers, and people in that class of worker?

Though you'd have to learn to say "maths" rather than "math" :D and might have to gain formal U.K. qualification.

The best place to look is the Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk - which has responsibility for immigration; or contact the Embassy in Washington.

it appears that I might be too old. 28 seems a very important age to them and I am on the very wrong side of 28.

You can also apply for a job with a school, get a work permit when they sponsor you, and migrate that way. After four years you get the right to permanent residency (and the ability to take a job anywhere in the country) and another year after that, you can apply for British nationality.

You can also sponsor a civil partner as someone who is on a work permit.

And in my novel, I will have an American lesbian couple, one of them transgender, do the same.

I am looking at leaving the US myself in about a decade. By then, I will need healthcare (none of this "preexisting conditions" crap), and I will have to leave the US to get it.

I'll also add that under W's directives from August 2004, transgender people cannot use their marriages to sponsor/be sponsored by their spouses for immigration. That's true, even if the marriage is legal.

W is going to burn in hell if there is one.

That directive was why the transgender couple I knew (American and Italian) moved to London.

Honestly, if I had a partner overseas, I would move to her country as well.

It doesn't affect Sapph and me, because we made the decision a long time ago that we would only go the legal route. But sadly we know of a lot of couples who have chosen to go the illegal route, and quite frankly, we don't blame them.

Recently I had to explain to my 15 year old niece how it feels to be forced to live apart from your partner with such great distance that you are lucky to see your partner for no more than four weeks a year. The best way I explained it was it is like losing someone because of death. The pain is very similar, the only difference being you know they are very much alive, and due to archaic laws you are prevented from being with them, from being able to reach out and touch them, from spending the holidays with them. On top of that you miss birthdays (Sapph and I in the last six years have only been together for one of my birthdays, that was 2001, and three of her birthdays) and your anniversary. The last time Sapph and I got to actually be physically together for our anniversary was 2001.

On top of all that, each day the pain of forced separation just gets worse. Some days (like today for me) it's just really hard to breath, and really fucking hard to get out of bed.

So if you are in a relationship straight or gay, binational or not, just be grateful that you are with the person you love at this time. Reach over and tell them just how damn grateful you are to have them in your life, and to actually have them with you. And remember, each relationship will have its share of ups and downs, but no matter what there is always a gay binational couple out there somewhere who don't even have the chance to experience those ups and downs together.

Happy Holidays everyone!