Why USCIS Pause exists
In December 2025 and January 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memoranda PM-602-0192 and PM-602-0194, imposing an indefinite “hold and review” on virtually all pending immigration benefit applications from nationals of ~39 countries — including Iran.
On January 1, 2026, Presidential Proclamation 10998 took effect, banning the issuance of all immigrant and nonimmigrant visas to Iranian nationals — including F-1 student visas, which had been exempted even during the 2017 ban.
The combined effect:
- Over 12,000 Iranian students currently in US universities are in legal limbo
- Roughly 1,800 OPT applications per year from Iranian students — new approvals could drop to zero this cycle
- USCIS still accepts the $470 OPT filing fee, but issues no decision, leaving graduates stuck in F-1 with no work authorization
- About 30 lawsuits have been filed; courts have granted narrow injunctions only to the plaintiffs
This site is a free, mobile-friendly tool for affected Iranians AND US-citizen allies to put a personal email in front of the people who can actually move on this — your senators and House representative.
How it works
An AI agent (Google Gemini, running through Vertex AI) interviews you briefly, then drafts both a personal story and a formal email. You edit both. You open your mail app — the email is pre-filled. You send it (or paste it into the rep’s official contact form if they don’t publish a direct email — most don’t).
We never sell your data. The form fields you provide stay in your private Firestore record. Stories on the public feed go through AI anonymization and moderation, and you preview them before publish.
Sources
- Inside Higher Ed — Pause on OPT Processing Harms Iranian Students
- Inside Higher Ed — OPT Application Pause Leaves Students in Limbo
- MIT International Scholars Office — USCIS hold on 39 high-risk countries
- VisaVerge — Iranian Student OPT Freeze 2026 (UMass Dartmouth)
- Daily Nexus — Indefinite OPT Pause (May 28, 2026)
Credits
Legislator data from the public-domain unitedstates/congress-legislators project. Address-to-district lookup via Google Civic Information API.