Meghan Freed was featured in a Connecticut Law Tribune article entitled “DOMA Ruling Opens Immigration Door For Same-Sex Couples.”
Freed Marcroft devotes a substantial portion of its practice to LGBT immigration issues. The United States Supreme Court’s overturn of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) in June, 2013, has resulted in a much more direct path to permanent residency status (commonly referred to as “green cards”) for many same sex binational married couples.
[A]lternative routes to green cards are significantly more challenging paths to permanent residency than one based upon a bone fide marriage, and many same-sex married couples found themselves separated by oceans or facing deportation.”
Now that same sex marriages are treated equally with straight marriages for immigration purposes, married couples are now eligible to apply for green cards based upon their family relationship rather than via an alternative basis, such as an asylum or work-based application.
“Seeing people’s lives change this dramatically has been astonishing.”