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Iranians Refused US Immigrant Visa Interviews, Lawsuit Alleges

Iranian immigrants who have been selected to receive US immigrant visas have been blocked from getting an interview. The Iranians who entered the fiscal year 2022 immigrant visa lottery and were selected in May 2021 are being prevented from moving the process forward, including getting an interview, according to a lawsuit filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “We are concerned that this administration is having a hard time letting go of the prior administration’s animus toward Muslims and Iranian immigrants. The diversity visa program has the potential to be a diplomatic tool, to show how great this country is. However, if in its implementation, the State Department treats some immigrants differently than others, that sabotages the program’s impact,” Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Sacramento Valley/Central California, which brought the lawsuit known as CAIR-CA, et al. v Blinken, et al., said in a statement. If the case is not resolved by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, the potential immigrants will need to restart the process from the beginning.