INFORMS Open Forum

I wanted to open a discussion within our community about recent USCIS actions that have placed the professional lives of many international scholars in the United States in a state of profound uncertainty.

Through two memos issued on December 2, 2025, and January 1, 2026, USCIS has imposed an adjudicative hold on immigration benefits for individuals born in, or holding citizenship from, any of the 39 countries subject to entry bans under the relevant Presidential Proclamations. This hold appears to be sweeping in scope, affecting a wide range of benefits, including work authorization pathways such as OPT, H-1B petitions and extensions, TN visas and extensions, and others. Because the hold is based on place of birth or nationality, it appears to apply even to dual nationals like myself, despite my being a naturalized Canadian citizen, born in Iran.

While the memos refer to a 90-day review period, the hold as currently implemented appears indefinite, open-ended, and lacking any publicly stated criteria or timeline for resolution. In practice, this has left thousands of affected students, researchers, and faculty members in legal and professional limbo. Many are now scrambling to identify alternatives, including extending student status, returning to school, seeking opportunities in other countries, or preparing for the possibility of being forced to interrupt careers and lives they have built in the United States. The current war in Iran (one of the affected countries) makes the issue even more urgent. 

I wanted to bring this situation to the attention of our community because I believe many INFORMS members may already be affected, directly or indirectly.  My goals in sharing this are twofold. First, I hope to raise awareness within our community about the scale and seriousness of this policy. Second, I hope to draw on the collective wisdom, experience, and networks of this group to identify possible paths forward for those currently trapped in this uncertainty.

If others in this community have been affected, know of institutional responses, legal strategies, or practical options that may help, I would be deeply grateful to hear them.

Hi Saman,

This is all very painful and unfortunate. Currently, the ban is affecting immigrant visa petitions only. As long as the person is in the US, they can do an Adjustment of Status (e.g. J1 => H1-B).  I hope it works out!

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Marianna Vydrevich
Manager, Operations Research and Network Optimization
GAF
Parsippany NJ
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Thank you so much for your kind words of sympathy. Unfortunately the pause has affected all immigration benefits, including all work authorization and visa types. I know hundreds of recent Iranian graduates, and temporary workers like myself that have not been able to obtain an extension to their current status, or obtain a change of status. Again, the pause is applied to all applications. I know many people personally who have been running out of status and not been able to extend their stay, living in limbo. I have not been able to sleep well a single night in the last 100 days out of fear of losing my legal status. 

This is a good explainer provided by Yale University which explicitly mentions:

This memo immediately places an adjudicative hold on all pending and any future USCIS benefit applications filed by or on behalf of individuals connected to additional “high-risk countries” newly designated under Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10998. Although the December 2^nd memo specified certain forms (without excluding other immigration benefits), this new memo makes clear that the pause applies to the adjudication of all benefit applications. This would mean common application types such as Form I-129, Form I-140, Form I-539, and Form I-765 that are filed by or on behalf of our students and scholars for temporary work authorizations (such as OPT or STEM OPT, or J-2 EAD), for acquiring H-1B status, changing status to a different non-immigrant status, or employment-based or self-petition green card applications will all be affected.

https://oiss.yale.edu/news/updated-uscis-memorandum-expanded-processing-holds-and-re-review-of-immigration-benefits

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Saman Lagzi
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2026 22:04
From: Marianna Vydrevich
Subject: Urgent Request for Help From the Community

Hi Saman,

This is all very painful and unfortunate. Currently, the ban is affecting immigrant visa petitions only. As long as the person is in the US, they can do an Adjustment of Status (e.g. J1 => H1-B).  I hope it works out!

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Marianna Vydrevich
Manager, Operations Research and Network Optimization
GAF
Parsippany NJ
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