According to Newsweek/The Daily Beast, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has decided to suspend adjudication of immigrant visa petitions of foreign nationals in gay marriages in at least the Washington and Baltimore Districts, instead of denying them outright. This may signal a nationwide policy allowing U.S. citizens married to same-sex foreign nationals to apply for legal permanent residence (a “green card”) for their spouses. This would affect thousands of same-sex bi-national couples, allowing married homosexual bi-national partners to stay together like heterosexual couples can. This policy change appears to be the result of the Obama administration’s decision to not defend the “Defense of Marriage Act”, which forbids any federal benefits (including immigration benefits) of marriage to same-sex married couples. Already, an immigration judge has suspended the deportation of an Argentinean woman who married another woman in Connecticut last year, with the expectation that she may be able to legalize her situation sometime soon: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Immigration-Judge-Suspends-Deportation-of-Gay-Spouse-118741179.html

Foreign nationals who are married to a same-sex US citizen, or are considering marriage , should consult an immigration attorney to discuss their options. Officially the Defense of Marriage Act is still the law of the land and federal immigration benefits are still officially unavailable to bi-national same-sex couples. Stay tuned for more information and updates! See the Daily Beast article for details: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-25/gay-immigrants-same-sex-marriage-lifeline/#