The legal landscape has been stable since 2015 but political environments shift. It is worth knowing that during the Trump administration’s first term, there were concerns about rollbacks in same-sex immigration recognition that did not ultimately materialize. Some same-sex couples I know deliberately accelerated their immigration applications during periods of policy uncertainty as a precaution. This is not paranoia — it is informed risk management. For couples where the foreign spouse comes from countries with anti-LGBTQ+ laws, there may also be a question of whether returning to that country for a consular interview creates personal safety risk. Discuss this proactively with your attorney — alternative interview locations are sometimes possible.

My husband and I completed this process in 2022. One practical challenge: our home country does not recognize same-sex marriage, which created a documentation question — how do you prove the marriage is valid in Brazil? The key was that US immigration law only requires the marriage to be valid where it was performed — not where the foreign spouse is from. Our marriage was New York state law valid, period. We also built an especially strong bona fide relationship evidence package because we worried about scrutiny — joint accounts, lease agreements, photos across years, messages, letters from family. We received the green card without any additional questions.