Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would
recognize proxy marriages involving US military service members in
immigration cases. The bill, which would create an exception to the
standard regulation that a marriage that has not been consummated by a
couple living together after the marriage is not valid for immigration
cases.
The new law is called the Marine Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr. Memorial
Act, named after the sergeant who found out his Japanese girlfriend was
pregnant just after he was deployed to Iraq. Ferschke and his
girlfriend were married over the telephone soon after he received the
news; one month later, he was killed.
The new law would enable
Ferschke’s wife to come to the U.S. and raise their child and would do
the same for other widows of military servicepersons.
