Ben Norskov is American and Mohini Freya Dutta is Indian. The couple got married this July in New York and are heading to India this month for a big family wedding.

Dutta applied for a green card, which would allow her to stay permanently in the US. But she did not reckon on the US government shutdown.

The office that deals with requests to travel overseas while an application is being considered has been closed for two weeks.

Now Dutta will have to spend eight months apart from her new husband as she applies for that green card from India.

Produced by Anna Bressanin