Greetings from the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund,

We are reaching out today because your experience, your expertise, and your voice matter deeply to the work we are doing on behalf of our community. This email is part of ongoing communications from IALDF regarding student and exchange visitor visa denials by the United States. 

Many of you have reached out to IALDF seeking support after being denied a visa to pursue graduate studies in the United States — and we want you to know that your voices have been heard. In the coming days, IALDF will distribute a comprehensive survey to Iranian graduate students who have been accepted to academic programs across the United States.

We encourage you to watch for this email and the communications that will follow. Please share this initiative with any Iranian graduate students who have been affected by visa denials — the more voices we gather, the stronger our work becomes.

A Moment of Reflection

Before we share what lies ahead, we pause to honor the students, families, and community members who have been killed, injured, or detained during the recent uprising in Iran. We carry this grief alongside you. We also recognize the immense weight of the ongoing war and the near-total internet blockade that has severed vital connections and sought to shroud the truth in silence. We know that behind the digital darkness, your courage remains undiminished. We stand in firm solidarity with those enduring these hardships, held together by a shared hope for a brighter future, one defined by peace, justice, and the restoration of your voices to the world.  

If you would like to honor someone through this initiative, please reach out — we would be privileged to help tell their story.

What AMO Will Accomplish

This survey is the cornerstone of our flagship initiative: America's Missed Opportunity (AMO) — a project designed to document and bring national attention to the far-reaching consequences of restrictive U.S. immigration policies on the Iranian diaspora and on American society as a whole. 

The premise is straightforward: the cost of exclusion is not borne by students alone — it is shared by America itself. When the United States turns away exceptional graduate talent, it forfeits the ideas, innovations, and breakthroughs that have long fueled American leadership in science, medicine, technology, and the humanities.

For decades, international graduate students from Iran have been a driving force behind America's competitive edge. That advantage is now at risk — not because the talent has disappeared, but because the door has closed.

The survey will gather both quantitative data — such as educational background, field of study, target institutions, and visa history — and qualitative narratives that capture respondents' professional aspirations, research contributions, and the personal toll of exclusion.

Together, these data and stories will form the evidentiary and deeply human foundation of the AMO report.

The AMO project has two core components:

Your Privacy Is Our Priority

If you choose to participate, your privacy and security are fully protected.

What to Expect Next

In the coming days, you will receive a follow-up email containing the AMO survey along with a full explanation of your participation rights.

With gratitude and solidarity,

The IALDF Team