Visa bans, U.S. strikes derail future of Iranian students seeking to study in America

NBC News

4 hours ago

Iranian university students who planned to study in the United States said that their academic careers have been derailed by the Trump administration's visa ban on people from their country.
Mohamad Enayati, a 28-year-old civil engineering student, said he had spent years attempting to obtain a visa to study in the U.S., stressing out his family with every rejection and losing touch with friends along the way. Navigating an already lengthy visa process for Iranian students had been difficult enough, he said, only for his future to be thrown into limbo by the ban and then the U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend.
'My parents are really hurt to see me after what I've been through,' Enayati said. 'My only plan was to study and get a Ph.D. in the United States. If that doesn't happen after all I've struggled, after all I've been through — I really can't imagine.'
The students said, however, that by blocking their education in the U.S., the Trump administration unfairly paints Iranians with a broad brush, conflating them with the regime they happen to live under.
'We cannot be punished because of the place that we came from, the place that we were born,' said Hadis Abbasian, an Iranian cancer researcher who has been waiting for her visa for months. 'It wasn't our choice.'
The State Department pointed NBC News to a list of limited exceptions to the ban, which include visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran, as well as individuals adopted by American citizens and participants in certain major sporting events.
'The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,' a State Department spokesperson said.
On Saturday, the U.S. struck Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities, escalating a military conflict that began in mid-June when Israel attacked Iran, saying it was trying to halt it from being able to produce nuclear weapons. Most recently, after the U.S. helped negotiate a ceasefire that went into effect Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a televised speech Thursday, breaking a weeklong silence. In the speech, Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and said that Iran had delivered a 'slap in the face' to the U.S.
The U.S. strikes came weeks after Trump announced in a proclamation early this month that Iran would be among 12 countries whose nationals would be fully restricted from entering the U.S. Seven other countries, including Cuba, Laos and Venezuela, are under partial travel restrictions.
The proclamation said that several of the countries on the list had declined to accept the repatriation of their nationals, while others had high visa overstay rates. In Iran's case, the administration said that the entry of its nationals had been suspended because it is a 'state sponsor of terrorism.'
'Iran regularly fails to cooperate with the United States Government in identifying security risks, is the source of significant terrorism around the world, and has historically failed to accept back its removable nationals,' the proclamation said.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News earlier this month that Trump's policy is in the 'best interest of the American people and their safety.'
Enayati said that he was crestfallen by the visa ban — an emotion that only heightened after the recent U.S. strikes. Enayati, who began the visa process in 2023, had been looking forward to a Ph.D. position at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He said he's endured half a dozen visa application rejections. His seventh and final application was placed in administrative processing by the U.S. Embassy where it has remained for more than a year, he said.
'The Trump travel ban came and it ruined everything,' he said. 'I really want to experience the American dream.'
After pouring money and time into the application and visa process, Enayati said it's difficult to entertain any possible future that doesn't include an education in the U.S.
'I don't understand banning us,' said Enayati, who currently lives in Iran. 'We all have a problem with the Iranian regime, but we are just common people.'
As of the 2023-24 school year, 12,430 Iranian students were enrolled in U.S. universities. The lion's share of students pursued studies in STEM, particularly in engineering,
Amy Malek, chair of the Iranian and Persian Gulf studies program at Oklahoma State University, said that Iranian students have long been subjected to particularly long processing times and intensive scrutiny when it comes to obtaining visas. She said the demographic was once the largest proportion of international students in the late 1970s after the Iranian Revolution, reaching a peak of 51,310 students in the U.S. However, due to geopolitical tensions, those from Iran faced additional screenings and restrictions for decades, she said.
A law under the Obama administration, for example, denied visas to Iranian students whose studies would prepare them for energy or nuclear sectors in their home country. And under the first Trump administration, Iran was among the seven Muslim-majority countries whose nationals were banned from entering the U.S. The ban was lifted under Joe Biden in 2021.
Today, Iranian students often experience significantly longer wait times than those from other countries, with the visa process sometimes taking months to years — several times longer than the average wait of days to weeks. But, Malek said, many seeking education in the U.S. have historically few ties to political activism or are in opposition to Iran's ruling theocracy.
'There is a long-term misunderstanding, or perhaps unwillingness, to see Iranian citizens as separate from their government,' Malek said. 'I do think that the U.S. government misses out on opportunities to support the kinds of change that they claim to want for Iran when they undermine the ability for Iranian students to study abroad.'
Abbasian, the cancer researcher, planned to begin her program this year at the University of Missouri. She also said that her studies have always remained strictly academic rather than political. With the ongoing conflict and visa ban threatening students' future, the restrictions could block opportunities for a generation of scientists, particularly those who may not have the means or time to wait out the indefinite ban, or whose test scores expire while the ban is in effect. Some students will have to resort to continuing their education in other countries or remain in Iran. For Abbasian, she said she's committed to learning under the University of Missouri's specific program and is unwilling to give up that goal.
Abbasian, who said she was in shock for days because of the restrictions, said she is determined to find her way to the U.S., speaking out for those in her position and holding out hope for the ban to be lifted at some point.
'No matter how long this takes, someday I will be in the U.S.,' she said. 'I will start my dreams. I believe in my dreams.'