Foreigners married to American same-sex partners cannot get green cards. But as of yesterday, they will be allowed to apply for them — an important distinction that will keep some spouses together at least temporarily. US Citizenship and Immigration Services has decided to stop denying same-sex green card applications until courts decide the uncertain future of the Defense of Marriage Act. Read more

"Controversial" is not a strong enough word to describe a Czech immigration policy that requires gay asylum seekers to watch straight porn while having the blood flow to their penis monitored. If they become aroused, residency is denied. The test is beyond problematic (what if they're aroused by the naked man?) and also irrelevant because how your penis reacts to porn doesn't change the fact that Read more

Start with staying off Facebook! Homeland Security is using social networks to keep tabs on couples believed to be in fraudulent marriages, particularly for immigration. The idea capitalizes on people's online narcissistic tendencies — they must have seen this Venn diagram. National Security agents can friend suspected people without revealing their identity (another reason not to friend Read more

For the last 22 years, foreign citizens living with HIV or AIDS have been forbidden to legally enter the US. As of Monday, that ban will be a thing of the past. On Friday, President Obama announced the decision to overturn the policy he called "rooted in fear rather than fact." He said: "We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a Read more

Cheese. Wine. Baguettes. These are all seemingly welcomed signifiers of French identity. Burqas? Not so welcome. France has been debating a ban on the head-to-toe garment for some time now. Most recently, the country's immigration minister Eric Besson said yesterday that burqas should not be worn on French streets because they are not part of the country's "national identity." Besson wants the Read more

Women don't have a single nationality or a common religion, but they do make up a defined group regularly subjected to domestic and sexual abuse. Yesterday, the Obama administration paved the way for women who are victims of severe abuse to receive asylum in the United States. The administration signaled the policy change in its court filing in the case of a Mexican woman who is currently Read more