The Trump administration has carved out a narrow exception to its year-long freeze on immigration application reviews for citizens of dozens of high-risk countries, allowing physicians with pending green card or visa petitions to have their cases adjudicated. The move, which went into effect in early May 2026, offers potential relief to foreign-trained doctors whom hospitals and clinics rely on to fill critical gaps in rural and underserved areas. But the exemption does not guarantee that any application will be approved, and immigration attorneys and applicants say it remains unclear whether U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has the capacity to process the cases before looming deadlines.
The pause, which the Department of Homeland Security imposed after a November 2025 shooting of two National Guard soldiers by an Afghan national, stopped all adjudications for people from a list of countries the administration deemed to pose vetting risks. DHS said in a statement that it needed to “ensure applicants are properly screened,” arguing that the previous administration had failed to do so. But critics, including immigration attorney Greg Siskind of Memphis, said the cumulative effect of multiple overlapping bans and pauses — some covering more than 75 countries on public-charge grounds — was “all about making life miserable for people who are here legally so they will choose other countries.”
For doctors such as Dr. Faysal Alghoula, a Libyan-born pulmonologist who cares for roughly 1,000 patients across a swath of southwestern Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, the exemption came none too soon — and has already been undercut by bureaucratic uncertainty. Alghoula, whose green card expires in September, had been waiting since the freeze began for his renewal application to be reviewed. “It is about four to five months wait to get the pulmonologist here,” he said. After the exemption was announced, he received an interview appointment for early June, only to have it canceled without explanation last Friday. “I’m still scared to go to my interview,” Alghoula said, citing reports of immigrants being detained at similar appointments.
The exemption’s limits are evident in the case of Dr. Zahra Shokri Varniab, an Iranian radiologist who arrived three years ago for research. She sued the government after her green card application got stuck, and a federal judge ordered a decision. Immigration officials then denied her case — a decision she believes was retaliation. The government wrote in court filings that her application contained inconsistencies about whether she intended to practice medicine or remain a researcher. Shokri Varniab said she plans to do both and is seeking continued relief in court. Because her case was already decided, the new exemption does not appear to apply.
The human toll of the broader freeze reaches well beyond doctors. Kaveh Javanshirjavid, an Iranian agricultural scientist who completed his doctorate in the United States seven years ago, was supposed to start a lab job in January but cannot work because his employment authorization application is on hold. He is borrowing money from friends to cover rent and relying on his wife’s doctoral stipend for basics. His wife, also Iranian, will face the same limbo after she graduates this summer. “The whole of my life is on hold,” he said.
Immigrants from Iran say the war with U.S. and Israeli forces has made returning home unimaginable. Iran’s internet blackouts prevent regular contact with family, and they cannot count on relatives for financial support. The freeze leaves them stranded in the United States without legal work or the safety net of a country that may no longer exist as they knew it.
The Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions about the exemption’s implementation timeline or how many physicians have been affected. A spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians said several doctors have contacted the organization for help, but no comprehensive tally exists. For now, the exemption represents a half-step: the door has been cracked open for some of the most valued professionals in the immigration system, but thousands of others remain locked outside, their careers and family ties suspended indefinitely.