A fairly straightforward process available to most Americans—obtaining a green card for your foreign-born spouse—has caused many headaches and heartaches for same-sex couples. For these over 40,000 recorded eligible couples, they have been forced to live away from their spouses without recognition of their lives as a couple, with infrequent visits and harsh penalties for too much time together, and/or have had to live in exile in countries that allowed same-sex couples easy residency.

That all is changed after the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Same-sex marriages, regardless of the country of marriage as long as they are legal, are now recognized as completely equal in the eyes of the Federal Government. For LGBT American citizens married to or in a relationship with someone from another country this means that the elusive, unattainable green card is now a possible reality, and will bring many couples together after years of hassle.

A story illustrating the impacts of this decision occurred just after the Supreme Court publicly released their decision. American Sean Brooks and Columbian Steven Infante, a gay couple living in New York City, were going to an immigration hearing that most likely would have had Infante deported because of the overstaying of his via. Immediately, the immigration judge opened the way for Infante to get a green card and remain in the U.S. as a legal permanent resident, and this pathway is available to those who wish to seek it.

If you are in this situation and are looking how to obtain a green card for yourself or your spouse, Immigration Equality, a national organization that has been fighting for equality for LGBT and HIV-positive individuals since 1994, has released information about how the law is applicable and the steps to take to apply.

Gay marriage checked off the list, the country’s focus now turns toward immigration reform. A landmark immigration bill, one that would revamp the current immigration system and allow millions of undocumented persons the chance to gain citizenship, has been held up in the Senate because of a debate about the inclusion of gay and lesbian spouses. Interestingly enough, with the DOMA ruling, the same-sex spousal amendment was allowed to be removed from the bill and it passed the Senate on a vote of 68-32 after being held up with debates around the issue. Although the rewriting of immigration law is complicated and is surrounded in enough controversy as it is, the court’s decision allowed the bill to push forward, giving hope to many.