Another downside of the downturn.

Without same-sex marriage, immigration laws put a binational couple at risk when one partner loses her job

It's not uncommon during tough economic times for workers to fear losing their jobs. But for same-sex binational couples, such as Leslie Bulbuk, 38, and her Brazilian girlfriend, Marta Donayre, 32, getting laid off means much more than just losing a job. That's because the United States doesn't recognize same-sex partnerships and many foreign partners of gay and lesbian citizens must rely solely on their work visas to stay in the country.

Already, Donayre, who lives with Bulbuk in Sunnyvale, Calif., has been laid off once and has had two near misses in the year and a half they've been together. In one case she was driving to work and heard on the radio that her company was being acquired. "I was frantic at the time," she says. "I was really, really scared. Immediately I called Leslie. I was already bawling my eyes out."

Then, in April, Donayre was let go from her marketing job at the software company Ariba. Lawyers said she might have to leave the country within 10 days. While frantically looking for another job, she says, she prepared for the worst, selling her condo and getting ready to leave the country. As she was packing, she was offered a new job with an employer willing to sponsor her for a work visa.

Pradeep Singla, staff attorney for the New York City-based Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, says his organization is receiving a growing number of calls from couples worried about facing a similar situation. "It illustrates the hardship faced by binational couples," Singla says. "They bring home the point that there is a need for us to end discrimination in immigration law." And the problem might only get worse as the government cracks down on its immigration policies following last month's terrorists attacks.

Donayre and Bulbuk say they've been surprised how unaware people are about the way U.S. immigration law discriminates against same-sex couples. Together they have mounted their own campaign to spread awareness, which includes a Web site that tells their story.

A proposed change in federal immigration law could resolve all this. The Permanent Partners Immigration Act, a bill designed to provide equality to gay and lesbian binational couples, has drawn 83 cosponsors since U.S. representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) first introduced it in February. The task force is currently trying to get a similar bill introduced in the Senate, where they say it has a better chance of passing.

But until the law changes, binational couples must live with uncertainty. Bulbuk and Donayre say they've talked about having a commitment ceremony and buying a house together but that recent experiences make it very difficult to plan for a long-term future. "We could do all of that stuff," Bulbuk says, "but all of it could be taken away with one layoff because times are so hard right now. All of that has been put on hold."

Savage is an Amsterdam-based freelance writer.