The Trump administration is denying visas to same-sex partners of employees of foreign governments and international organizations, sending agencies scrambling to respond and provoking a swift backlash from human-rights advocates and foreign workers.
The U.S. State Department said this week that it would end the long-standing practice of issuing diplomatic visas to same-sex couples who were not married, starting this month. Couples on existing visas would have until the end of the year to get married or leave the country within 30 days. Those being posted to the United States from abroad would have to provide proof that they are married in order to receive a visa.
About 105 families posted to the United States are affected, including 55 from international organizations, the State Department said. It could not say whether any of those families were from Canada.
U.S. officials said they would make exceptions for diplomatic staff from countries that have outlawed same-sex marriage if those countries also gave visas to American workers in same-sex domestic partnerships. But those exceptions won’t be extended to international organizations such as the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund.
The move has some international organizations rushing to negotiate with the U.S. government to make accommodations for workers already in the United States.
The UN said there were about 10 staff members who would be required to provide marriage certificates by the end of the year. The World Bank estimated that fewer than 10 staff members would be affected by the policy change. “We are working with the State Department and affected staff,” it said in a statement.
The policy change, first announced in July, ends a practice put in place in 2009 that extended diplomatic privileges to the same-sex partners of American Foreign Service workers and also offered visas to the partners of foreign diplomats. At the time the policy was intended to work around an existing federal ban on same-sex marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court legalized in 2015.
U.S. officials argued the change would promote equality between same-sex and heterosexual couples, who are also required to be legally married to receive diplomatic visas, and promote same-sex marriage globally. “Marriage equality is since 2015 the law of the land in the U.S.,” a senior state department official told reporters in a background briefing. “We understand that a lot of other countries don’t necessarily view that the same way, so we are proud of the fact that we’re forward-leaning in this policy.”
But critics decried the move as biased against same-sex couples who already face more hurdles than heterosexual couples in having their relationships recognized by governments.
While UN workers already in the United States could opt to get married, some could potentially face risks at home if those marriage records became public documents, said Alphonso Nam, president of UN-Globe, which advocates for LGBT employees of the UN.
The policy change is a major concern for many UN workers from countries that don’t recognize same-sex marriage and who have been assigned to an upcoming U.S. posting or hope to be sent to the United States in the future, he said.