An Iranian doctor living in Virginia just won a major legal battle to save her medical career after a federal judge stepped in and ordered the government to hand over her work permit.
Dr. Nazanin Yazdan Pouri was on the verge of losing her spot in the family medicine residency program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Her orientation is set for June 10, 2026, but she couldn’t legally start working because her paperwork was trapped in an indefinite government freeze.
On May 30, 2026, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan broke that logjam, giving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services exactly seven days to rule on Pouri’s work permit application.
Pouri, who legally resides in Norfolk, Virginia, on a derivative student visa with her husband, applied for permanent residency and employment authorization back in November 2025. Under normal circumstances, the government takes about two to four months to process these permits. Instead, Pouri’s file was frozen because of a sweeping national security policy targeting noncitizens from 39 countries, including Iran.
The policy traces back to a pair of directives issued by President Donald Trump’s administration. In June 2025, Presidential Proclamation 10949 restricted entry from 19 countries. By December, Presidential Proclamation 10998 expanded that list to 39 nations. Following those orders, USCIS issued internal memos halting all benefit processing for nationals from those countries so the agency could overhaul its security screening procedures.
The Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Markwayne Mullin, fought the lawsuit. Government lawyers tried to get the case thrown out or moved to Maryland, arguing that courts have no business interfering with discretionary immigration timelines and that a seven-month wait wasn’t unreasonably long.
Judge Chutkan completely rejected the government’s arguments.
In a sharp memorandum opinion, Chutkan ruled that the court had full authority to step in because Pouri was challenging a blanket policy, not an individual visa denial. She called the government’s freeze “arbitrary and capricious,” pointing out a major flaw in the logic: while restricting entry into the U.S. makes sense for national security, blocking work permits for people who are already living here legally does not.
“USCIS may be right that applicants from certain countries need more vetting, but they have not explained why applicants already in the country cannot legally work in the interim,” Chutkan wrote.
The judge also pointed out that the government totally ignored the massive toll this policy takes on people who followed the rules. Pouri had already spent years of effort and significant personal funds building her medical career, expecting the agency to follow its usual timeline.
Medical groups across the country weighed in on the case, too. A coalition of 24 organizations, including the American College of Physicians and the Association of American Medical Colleges, warned the court that these “indefinite adjudicative holds are forcing physicians to abandon residency programs,” which ultimately hurts patients and worsens the nation’s doctor shortage.
Chutkan ruled that Pouri would suffer permanent, irreparable professional and financial damage if she missed her June 10 deadline, as she would lose the residency position entirely and be barred from working anywhere else.
The injunction forces USCIS to finish reviewing Pouri’s application immediately so she can step into the hospital on time.
READ: Iran Freezes US Peace Talks, Ramps Up Waterway Blockade Threats As Israel Advances In Lebanon
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