Iranian-origin founder Kayana Ehsani reacts to the new green card rule.
Iranian-American founder Kayana Ehsani reacted to the new green card rules and shared a heartbreaking update about her life. Although she is not a green card applicant, and is already a green card holder, Ehsani said the situation for her is no better.
“Today I was supposed to be on my way to Turkey for my wedding,” Ehsani said, adding that her wedding had to be canceled due to the cancellation of all flights to and from Iran and her family being unable to leave Iran.Ehsani said that they chose Türkiye to hold the wedding because it is close to Iran. She was supposed to get married with a close group of family members from both sides on a boat in the Mediterranean at sunset.Instead of going to Türkiye, she said, she found the new green card rule that stipulates that applicants must return to their home countries to apply.
“This means that every one of my Iranian friends who are here on a visa must now return to their home country (on what flight?) to get a green card??? As if it were that easy? We all know that for Iranians, returning to the US is extremely challenging (months and months of waiting for a visa, with the possibility of never being able to return),” she wrote.
Ehsani said she has lived in the United States for 11 years and has held a green card for five years, making her eligible to apply for citizenship.
But this does not matter because Iranians are not allowed any kind of immigration now due to the ongoing war between the US and Iran.“And this is just a normal Friday for an Iranian. These days, when people ask how I am and how I deal with everything, I just say: It’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll be okay one day. But the truth is: Nothing is okay. I’m in constant pain. I haven’t seen my family and loved ones in years, I barely hear about their safety, and I’m constantly worried about them. I just bury myself in work because that’s the only distraction. It can save me from losing my mind.”
I’m not well. None of us are okay. We’re barely getting it together…” she wrote.Ehsani holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Washington and was a co-founder of Vercept, now acquired by Anthropic.
