No, what I’m saying is, even if they were married and the marriage legally recognized by all of Canada, including immigration, the problem arose because the OP (and his sisters-in-law) perceived that a U.S. border guard displayed homophobia and took it out on the one who did not have a permanent visa, by denying her entry.
We can’t know how the U.S. border guard would have acted had they been married in Canada and at some point tried to cross the border, but since the general U.S. does not recognize gay marriage, I think the same problem would have arisen with this [putatively] homophobic border guard.
This is way more complicated than you’re making it out to be.
If Sister in Law 1 actually just became a Permanent Resident (i.e. Green Card Holder) and her partner tried to cross the border, no matter what visa she had been granted by the consulate (working visa, visitor visa, extended visitor visa, whatever…) whether or not you gain entry into the US is STILL at the discretion of the border agent.
Getting a visa does NOT guarantee you entry into the country.
If your SIL1 got her greencard and became a permanent resident, once and for all, then the border agent probably suspected that SIL2 was coming to the US with immigrant intent. She was abiding by what she was taught – gay partners or not – and refused the partner entry into the US. According to immigration law, the border agent is in the clear.
A refusal of entry can be contested and brought in front of a judge for review. It can also trigger a multiple-year-ban. I hope your SIL2 gets good advice from a good, experienced immigration lawyer.
Now – of course, my question would be – if your SILs had no immigrant intent, why become permanent residents? (there are hundreds of valid reasons!) If both were in the process of becoming LPRs, there’s all SORTS of reasons a border agent could have pounced all over SIL2, especially with a domestic partner already cleared as an LPR. Once into the US, there would be no way to get some back out easily – so it’s easier to prevent people from entering, really.
Good question. First they were only gonna stay fro 5 years. Then it was 10.
Three years ago they asked us to look out for waterfront property and then waterfront prices exploded. Hearing of SIL2 getting permanent residency was a big surprise. Now after your post, I think she made a huge mistake. I’m afraid to ask her.
In the end, I think they’ll both move back to Canada. SIL 2 Actually works for a Canadian company and it was her decision to run their entire North American marketing division from Texas. She could easily move back. SIL 1 was a consultant for upscale home entertainment installations. She’ll do well here in Canada but nowhere like she’s done in Texas.
Me, I’ll never ever get to see the Cowboys in Dallas.
I wonder if either of your SiLs would be willing and/or interested in telling their story to the media - after it’s all over (one could imagine that working against them when the case is still being reviewed). More as a caution to other couples who might run themselves into similar trouble without realizing it, than anything.
I am having some trouble fully parsing the OP, but I would venture to say it’s not a gay-related issue, because I know a hetero married couple that is having (I think) the same problem. The husband is Canadian, the wife is a US citizen. They lived in Canada, she applied for residency, then he received a job offer in NY, so they stopped the immigration process. He decided not to take the job, but they came to the US to visit her parents over Christmas, and upon attempting to return home to Canada, he was admitted, but she was not. From the husband: “She either has to prove ties to the US sufficient to demonstrate that she is just a visitor to Canada and will return to the US on schedule, or she has to be accepted as a permanent resident of Canada.”
Well you are talking about Canadian immigration policy here, but still, I’m surprised the government is keeping a married couple separated for reasons other than suspicion of fraudulent marriage.
My husband can’t get a visa to the US because I am an American citizen. They will not let him visit the country unless we petition to get him permanent residence. Their reasoning is that he may be trying to circumvent the immigration process by getting in on the appearance of being a visitor, and just never leaving. If they were married, it would probably be even more difficult for the second sister to come in without a green card.
I sincerely doubt this is a gay issue, unless the border agent gave specific signs of being anti-gay. Although I am curious as to how the border agent would link the one sister-in-law to the other if they’re not married.
While immigration policy in general sucks (the US didn’t used to admit known homosexuals at all) and this situation sucks particularly hard, there really isn’t any way that immigration could be handled on a state-by-state basis.
I concur. IANAL, but I am currently in the middle of this god-forsaken process, and IIRC, spouses and fiancés of US citizens are not allowed into the country on temp visas. It’s illegal to come into the country on a temp visa with the intent to immigrate, but once you’re in they can’t kick you out on that basis, so I can understand the agent in this case rejecting entry. US immigration seems to me to be a giant (expensive) clusterfuck that’s intended to keep as many people out as possible. And the government wonders why it’s having problems with illegal immigrants…
The thing is, your husband could apply for a green card based on being married to an American citizen, an option which is not going to be open to the OP’s SILs.
Indeed - my only point was that the OP’s statement that “An anti gay sentiment sure seems likely,” and that "But the fact remains that had they been married, this would not have been an issue. " does not ring true from my POV. Sis2 was likely not barred because she was gay, but because she was partnered with someone in the US who has a green card and therefore has no obligation to leave.
I think we’re talking past each other here; I’m not talking about the past situation at all; that’s done and over with. I’m talking about going forward from here and dealing with Canadian government officials and lawyers, and the two ladies having firmer ground to stand on to fight this banning because they are legally married in Canada, rather than having a fairly amorphous legal standing.
When my fiancee and I were traveling to the US for our wedding, we were slightly worried that there would be some problems with getting her into the country. She’d done some research on fiancee/fiance visas and found that there was a possibility of being turned away at immigration. Apparently this had actually happened to a few people who were going to visit their intended on a regular tourist entry. Since we were traveling together, and I still lived in Japan, I didn’t think it worth the huge pain in the ass to get a fiancee visa, especially since we weren’t intending to stay for more than a couple of weeks.
Getting my wife into the US permanently is going to be a chore, whenever we move there. Being married doesn’t guarantee anything. If we had kids, it still wouldn’t help to move things along much faster than the usual snail’s pace. We either have to arrange everything ahead of time, and be ready to move on a few month’s notice when we get confirmation of permission for her to enter the country, or I stand a good chance of being separated from her for a year or more while the bureaucracy does their thing. She cannot travel to the US while she has an application for residency in process.