Women and Immigration to the United States
Under certain circumstances in the United States, women have their own rights when it comes to immigration. Here’s everything you need to know about immigration for women to the United States.
Historically, women have lacked legal rights when it comes to immigration to the United States. Immigration has and continues to change for women through new policies that aim to close gender inequality gaps while protecting women facing dangerous circumstances.
Do immigration laws differ for women and men?
In the past, immigration laws in the United States followed English common law. This means that women had no legal identity and were treated as extensions of their husbands. Thus, women’s immigration statuses were based on their husband’s status.
Throughout the years, immigration laws have changed and now function according to the Immigration and Naturalization Act. This act governs the rights different people have in immigrating to the United States. Generally speaking, rights to enter the country are dependent on matters including family sponsorship, employment, and refugee or asylee status. The act does not discriminate based on gender, but since certain immigration conditions are more applicable to women (especially in family-related cases), policies can affect women differently than men.
Women’s rights in immigration
Gender-based asylum claims refer to cases that involve harm specifically done to women. The Matter of Kasinga represents the first of such cases, in which a woman who escaped her home sought asylum on the grounds that she would be forced to face female genital cutting if she arrived back in her country. The Board of Immigration Appeals granted her asylum based on gender, thus representing the first case that recognized gender as a category. After this case, women became a “particular social group” that, in cases of harmful and severe situations, can gain asylum.
Further examples of such cases include women fleeing countries to escape sex trafficking and honor killings. Asylum has also been granted for women that leave a country because said country condones harm towards women, such as in Afghanistan under the Taliban. In more recent years, domestic violence has been accepted as grounds for asylum. All in all, women can be granted asylum if they are able to prove that their home country does not protect them from partner violence and can cause them serious harm.
Different Immigration Acts That Pertain to Women
1922 Cable Act
The 1922 Cable Act ended automatic citizenship for women who married American citizens. Instead, this act made it mandatory that women be individually naturalized to become citizens. Moreover, this act changed past rules by stating that women in the United States will not automatically lose their birth citizenship if they marry a foreigner that is eligible for American citizenship.
1944 Violence Against Women Act
The 1944 Violence Against Women Act worked to help women facing severe abuse escape their situation. Specifically, this act allowed women suffering from abuse to file for immigration relief without their abuser knowing or needing to take part in the process. Doing so could allow women to become independent and safer in a new environment.
Related: Domestic Violence Laws in California
2011 Uniting American Families Act
The 2011 Uniting American Families Act is also known as the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. This act allows citizens and permanent residents of the United States to sponsor same-sex partners. With same-sex partners being allowed to sponsor partners for immigration-related matters, many more immigrant women have gained the ability to obtain citizenship in the United States.
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