Q to samesex couples that filed for AOS after DOMA

[onehappycouple 1]

Hello.

We are ready to file, the envelope is ready to be sent out on Monday. However, before we do, we'd like to ask you for your experiences if your spouse was here on an F-1 visa and had filed any form with immigration prior to 5/25/13 as "SINGLE", while they had been already married in a same-sex marriage, ie. F-1 spouse filed for CPT or OPT I765 as single while actually under state law being married.

Did you attach a letter explaining that you complied with the DOMA at that time or just did not mention it at all? If you did not, did you get any RFE about that?

What type of evidence of bona fides did you attach? Approx. how many pages did you send? Did you have any affidavits or just relied on your own pics and whatnot.

We got pics from different trips, print outs of our facebook accounts, joint checking, insurance policies, etc. along with old phone records. It seems like it all came out to about 40 pages of printed copies.

Also, has anyone of you gotten through an interview yet?

Good luck.

P&D

[amberlynnloves 125]

Congratulations on being ready to file. I can't really answer for you. I'd assume though it would be like any other immigration visa that if you lie, its automatic denial.

Do you have a marriage certificate?

Was the marriage at the time recognized with your state?

If no, then you might be ok.

If yes, they might consider that a misrepresentation on the original visa application and deny you based on that.

Good luck. I'm sure someone else can answer better than me though.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

A lie to immigration is no better or worse based on your sex, color,religion or country of origin. It is a lie and they take these things more seriously than you can imagine especially if the truth would have likely resulted in the visa being denied.

[binational 2]

Not everyone on here understands the dynamics and changes to same-sex marriage law.

You did not lie to USCIS. Before DOMA was found unconstitutional to the federal government, according to the federal government you were NOT married as they did not recognize same-sex marriage. Therefore, according to the federal government, you answered honestly when stating you were single.

If you have further concerns, speak with an immigration lawyer who has expertise in same-sex specific cases.

Good luck!

[onehappycouple 1]

Binationalcouple, thanks, that is our understanding. We're just curious how other copuples / guys dealt with in this situation.

I'm not a hater, but this topic is for same-sex couples due to our peculiar circumstances. Yes, we are all equal and so on, but there is hardly any infromation on how technicalities of immigration work out during this transition time.

[binational 2]

With respect to your other questions,

--We just sent in paperwork (see my signature) a week ago. Our package was nearly 300 pages (largest piece: we included a full passport copy with each I-XXX form). No response yet (and no RFEs yet--crossing our fingers and waiting).

--If you feel better about sending a letter explaining that your state marriage was not recognized by the federal government until after the supreme court found DOMA unconstitutional, go for it. This was not applicable to us (we had an official same-sex partnership, but not "marriage" until after DOMA). If I were you, I probably would include some type of evidence explaining this (keeping it simple to the facts, e.g., We married on xx/xx/xxxx in STATE. This marriage became recognized by the federal government on 06/26/2013 with the Supreme Court striking down DOMA Section 3. Any forms that depict our relationship status as "single" before 06/26/2013 were abiding by federal law which did not yet recognize our marriage.) [disclaimer: This is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer.]

--Types of evidence we included, specific to same-sex nature of relationship past, if applicable: domestic partner certificate/civil union, power of attorney paperwork, health care directive paperwork. Other suggested evidence NOT specific to same-sex relationship: joint insurance, property lease/ownership, other co-mingling of finances, etc.

--We did not send affidavits or pictures. If necessary, we will. (We have them, but I felt our non-intrusive evidence from our 5+ years relationship was sufficient--hope I'm not wrong).

Again, best of luck.

[onehappycouple 1]

WOW, 5 years? congrats. That's a lot of evidence to show to immi.

good luck!

[grrrrreat 109]

Hello.

We are ready to file, the envelope is ready to be sent out on Monday. However, before we do, we'd like to ask you for your experiences if your spouse was here on an F-1 visa and had filed any form with immigration prior to 5/25/13 as "SINGLE", while they had been already married in a same-sex marriage, ie. F-1 spouse filed for CPT or OPT I765 as single while actually under state law being married.

Did you attach a letter explaining that you complied with the DOMA at that time or just did not mention it at all? If you did not, did you get any RFE about that?

What type of evidence of bona fides did you attach? Approx. how many pages did you send? Did you have any affidavits or just relied on your own pics and whatnot.

We got pics from different trips, print outs of our facebook accounts, joint checking, insurance policies, etc. along with old phone records. It seems like it all came out to about 40 pages of printed copies.

Also, has anyone of you gotten through an interview yet?

Good luck.

P&D

I haven't encountered this situation, but I would not mention it unless you were asked about it. If so, you can obviously explain that you were following the law in effect at the time, which deemed you unmarried. The commenter that suggested the government would treat this as misrepresentation is a bit overexcited, if you ask me.

It is a very similar situation to folks who have been filing taxes as single for many years and all of a sudden will need to start filing married (and should be amending previous tax years if it will get them bigger refunds).

[onehappycouple 1]

We ended up sending the docs just the way they were, with no additional explanation.

The federal law at the time was basicly if its same-sex, then its not a marriage for any federal purpose or benefit. It's not like we filed 1040 as single and immediately amended them with 1040x claiming married and explaining the DOMA predicament. So, we feel like we're just being consistent with the law at the time. Will see what happens and if they even bother to ask about that.