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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawA New "Permanent Partner" Visa for the USA?

A New "Permanent Partner" Visa for the USA?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the possibility of a new "Permanent Partner" Visa associated with the proposed Citizenship Act of 2021, US Citizenship Act of 2021. This is being propose, this legislation, I have some notes here I am reading. 

One of the things that they have been talking about is this notion of a "Permanent Partner" Visa. This seems to be, it would create this category to allow people to sponsor and receive Immigration benefits. It seems to be designed for adult couples unable to marry in their jurisdiction and that would seem to imply possibly to same sex couples. For example there could be folks here in Thailand; Thailand does not recognize same-sex marriage at least presently, although it has been discussed at length many, many times and I think probably sometime in this decade it will happen, exactly when remains to be seen. For now, it is not possible; you can't get married in Thailand so what are you going to do? 

There is actually a method of dealing with this. It is called a K-1 Fiancé Visa but they seem in this Act to possibly be trying to broaden it out because K-1 Fiancé Visas can only be utilized by Americans, American citizens. If a Permanent Resident of the United States has one of these "permanent partners" and they just can't get married in some offshore jurisdiction outside the United States and thereby they can't use that as the basis to file for a preference petition for Immigration benefits as the spouse of a Permanent Resident, then this "permanent partner" provision that is being proposed might allow that type of individual or that person in that set of circumstances to go ahead and gain Immigration benefits. 

Again, all of this remains to be seen. It is up in the air but I thought this was rather interesting; it would put a new complexion on family-based Immigration moving forward.