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Spousal Visa Policy and Mixed-Citizenship Couples: Evidence from the End of the Defense Of Marriage Act

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  • Redpath, Connor

    (University of California, San Diego)

Abstract

I compare mixed-citizenship couple formation under an immigration policy granting spousal visas to one without spousal visas, by leveraging federal same-sex marriage recognition from ending the Defense of Marriage Act. I estimate changes in mixed-citizenship same-sex couple counts and marriage counts, accounting for changes in other same-sex and other mixed-citizenship couples, using a triple difference design. Spousal visa access increases mixed-citizenship coupling by 36%, and mixed-citizenship marriages by 78%. Transfer benefits, health insurance, roommates, moving, or state-level heterogeneity do not explain the results. Informal calculations suggest 1.5 million people are currently together thanks to spousal visas.

Suggested Citation

  • Redpath, Connor, 2022. "Spousal Visa Policy and Mixed-Citizenship Couples: Evidence from the End of the Defense Of Marriage Act," SocArXiv mzuwe, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:mzuwe
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/mzuwe
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Clara E. Piano & Rachael Behr & Kacey Reeves West, 2024. "The supply and demand of marital contracts: the case of same-sex marriage," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(3), pages 237-268, March.

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