USCIS holds hurting Iranians in STEM
Advocates say USCIS processing holds are blocking legal immigrants — particularly Iranians in STEM — and there are public calls for Secretary Rubio to lift the pauses that are stranding workers and slowing projects highlighted noted.
USCIS issued a policy memorandum) on Dec. 2, 2025 (PM-602-0192) directing a hold on pending benefit requests from nationals of the administration’s initial 19 “high‑risk” countries, and an updated memo on Jan. 1, 2026 (PM-602-0194) expanded the operational pause and re‑review guidance. uscis.gov Iranian STEM workers report concrete harms: Massachusetts General Hospital researcher Marjan Azin told reporters her green‑card processing is frozen and she is a plaintiff in litigation challenging the freeze. wgbh.org A separate case reported in Nature and other outlets describes an Iranian researcher whose planned Harvard postdoc was halted after the travel‑ban expansions removed previously available visa pathways. nature.com Higher‑education groups formally pressed Secretary Marco Rubio for relief: the American Council on Education and 37 allied associations sent a letter urging exemptions for F/J/M student visas to Secretary Rubio, and the Association of American Universities joined similar appeals. acenet.edu Multiple lawsuits and court orders have followed: Axios reported about 197 plaintiffs challenging the administration’s pause, and a Northern District of California case, Shokri Varniab v. Edlow, has a pending preliminary‑injunction schedule with Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen ordering expedited production of the administrative record. axios.com
