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DISCLAIMER

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PETITION IS TO SOLELY REPRESENT THE DIFFICULT SITUATION OF IRANIAN STUDENTS WHO ARE WAITING FOR THEIR U.S. VISAS TO ATTEND THEIR UNIVERSITIES INSIDE THE UNITED STATES (CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC).

NO POLITICAL OR OTHER PURPOSES ARE BEING FOLLOWED. ANY MISUNDERSTANDING OR MISCONCEPTION OF THIS PETITION BY NEWS MEDIA OR OTHER ENTITIES AND INDIVIDUALS IS ON THEIR RESPONSIBILITY.

THE ADDRESSEES OF THIS PETITION ARE U.S. OFFICIALS AND RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF VISAS.
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For Iranian students, facing challenging situations during the visa process is not a new story. During the last two years, the COVID-19 Pandemic and cancellation of routine visa services made it even harder.

Administrative Processing (AP) before the issuance of visas is a routine procedure for most Iranian nationals. However, there has never been a specific time frame for the conclusion of such processing, and it can take as short as 40 days or as long as a couple of years. This year, like previous years, most of the applicants who attended visa interviews in the United States embassies in Armenia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, and Turkey, and elsewhere were subjected to AP. What is concerning is that until now, a large number of applicants are still waiting for the result of their AP. Many of us are currently waiting for over 120 days. Moreover, within the past few months, the embassies have not announced many results of any F and J cases, which in comparison to previous years is so alarming.

It is also worth mentioning that as a result of the global Pandemic, most Iranian applicants for the F and the J categories have already deferred their admissions for at least two or three semesters. For these students, not hearing anything from the embassies means that they will lose their admissions, funding, and everything they have worked for tirelessly.

In order to draw a vivid picture of the outcome of this long and slow AP, reviewing the statistics obtained from the website of the United States embassy in Armenia would be beneficial. According to the 2019 visa statistics, at least 30 percent of the applicants who were interviewed at the U.S. embassy in Yerevan before June 2019 were not able to obtain their visas before the start of the Fall 2019 semester; simply because of the long AP. Due to the limited consular activities in 2021, we are observing a more chaotic pattern that eventually would result in:

Discrimination against Iranian students in comparison to students of other nations;
Iranian students losing university admission and funding because of long AP; 
Not admitting Iranian students by the United States faculty members in the future, simply on the basis of visa problems;
Choosing other countries like Canada, Australia, and the European countries by elite Iranian students whose first choice for higher education was previously the prestigious institutions of the United States.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge all relevant departments and services, specifically the United States Department of State, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to kindly consider our concern and assist us with this matter and alleviate this burden for all Iranian students. We understand and respect the importance of taking into consideration the national interests of the United States in issuing visas, and by no means do we ask for any intervention in this process. Our only request is to expedite this process so that we would be able to attend our classes on time. We humbly ask you to support us and hear our concerns.

Respectfully submitted.