WOODBURY, Vt. (AP) — If Sandy Reeks and Pam Kinniburgh could just get married, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing now: leaving their new house, quitting one job, saying goodbye to friends and relatives, and moving to Toronto.

Reeks and Kinniburgh were joined in a Vermont civil union three years ago. While that gives them most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage in Vermont, there’s one critical piece missing: the right to stay together in the United States even though one half of the couple is a foreign citizen.

Kinniburgh is a U.S. citizen; Reeks is British.

“Even though the state of Vermont recognizes us as a couple, the federal government doesn’t, so we’re struggling to keep her in the country through a work visa,” said Kinniburgh. “Quite frankly, it’s asinine.”

U.S. immigration law is designed to keep families together. Foreign spouses of U.S. citizens can usually obtain residence visas. The law does recognize some same-sex couples for the purposes of allowing temporary visits, but not for allowing permanent residence.

“You can have a U.S. couple who has known each other for as little as six or seven months get married and the non-American is able to obtain immigration benefits, provided it is a valid marriage and they are in a valid relationship,” said Leslie Holman, a Burlington lawyer who specializes in immigration and has several same-sex couples as clients. “You can have same-sex couples who have been together for 15 years and if one of them does not have a means of immigrating to this country independent of the relationship, then we can’t keep them together.”

A measure sponsored by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) could make things easier for couples like Kinniburgh and Reeks. Called the Permanent Partners Immigration Act, the bill would treat same-sex domestic partners the same as heterosexual spouses for purposes of immigration rights and benefits.

Leahy, the ranking member of the committee that oversees immigration law, considers it a matter of fairness, said his spokesman, David Carle. Many other countries, especially in Europe, have already passed similar laws, Carle said.

“It’s been an anomaly in U.S. law and policy for some time, but has been increasingly noticed because more and more committed couples in the United States have run into this problem,” he said.

The bill was introduced in July and has eight co-sponsors, including Vermont independent Sen. James Jeffords. A similar measure, sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has 116 co-sponsors and is pending in the House.

Reeks and Kinniburgh consider themselves relatively lucky that their situation will only require them to stay in Toronto for a year; after that, they should be able to move back to Vermont for good, thanks to help from Reeks’ employer.

“When we met, we knew this was an issue — we’re the same sex. It’s not that we’re saying we didn’t know,” said Kinniburgh. “The thing that is the hardest for us is that this injustice is unfounded. As far as I’m concerned, it’s based on a Christian thing. What God would say that love is not right?”