In late night vote Senate passes measure to end 'widow penalty'

July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C.  -  The U.S. Senate late last night unanimously passed legislation by Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to stop the federal government from deporting widows and widowers who had been married to American citizens who died before a full two years of marriage.

The measure initially was filed by Nelson as a bill called the Fairness to Surviving Spouses Act [ attached pdf ].  But its language was included as an amendment to a broader homeland security spending bill that won Senate passage about 9 p.m. Thursday.

Nelson’s provision is aimed at ending the so-called widow penalty.  Under current law, a foreigner must be married to an American a full two years to qualify for residency in the U.S. 

But in hundreds of cases the American spouse has died before the two years have been met.  And the government has targeted the surviving spouse for deportation.

A case in point: 

Natalia Goukassian, a Florida woman who lost her American husband and then found the federal government moving to deport her.  She is but one of a few hundred spouses of deceased Americans whose legal status hangs in the balance.  Natalia came into the country legally from Russia and met her future husband.

They married on June 30, 2006, and soon after they filed for Natalia’s permanent resident status in the Orlando office of Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

But Tigran died on December 1, 2006 of an aggressive form of cancer related to his service in the U.S. military.  Natalia was denied residency in March 2009.  For now she is here legally, but that status soon will end. 

Like her, hundreds of widows and some widowers facing deportation were given a potential life-line on June 9, when the Obama administration put plans to send them to their home country on hold.  However, the administration said there needs to be a permanent fix -- legislation from Congress -- to be able to keep them in the country.

That legislation -- Nelson’s amendment to the homeland security bill -- now goes to the House, where a version of the bill passed out of committee last year with Republican support.  With both Democratic and Republican policy leaders having cleared it in the Senate, it’s expected to win full House approval.

“Immigration issues often are complicated,” Nelson said after the vote on the homeland security bill.  “But this was a no brainer.  We shouldn’t be throwing out widows and widowers who want to be in America simply because their spouse happened to die early.”

Under the Nelson amendment, surviving spouses would still need to prove their marriage was a bona fide marriage before receiving a green card.  Thus, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would retain the discretion to deny petitions, but they would no longer deny them automatically in response to the death of the citizen spouse.

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