USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Doing away with the `widow’s penalty’ – Editorials – MiamiHerald.com.

With a 79-19 Senate vote, Congress has corrected one of the more draconian immigration policies to be visited upon foreign-born spouses of American citizens.

Called the “widow’s penalty,”‘ the policy allows immigration officials to annul spouses’ applications for permanent residency when their American husbands or wives die before the marriage is two years old.

The new immigration measure will allow foreigners married to U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency without waiting two years, and the death of a spouse won’t be a determining factor in the outcome.

U.S. Temporarily Suspends Policy of Deporting Widows of Citizens – WSJ.com.

The Department of Homeland Security has stopped deporting widows and widowers of US citizens, “a sign of the Obama administration’s interest in new approaches to immigration.”

This will temporarily halt the policy of deporting some immigrants whose American spouses had died and left their legal status in limbo.