January 03, 2017
Sohail Sobhani, who works for the Hershey chocolate company in Pennsylvania, is in Abu Dhabi with his wife, Solmaz Behzadpour, where they were in the final phases of Behzadpour getting her US visa approved.
They didn’t hear about the travel ban until after landing in the United Arab Emirates, Behzadpour told CNN.
Behzadpour received an email from the US Department of State saying, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, your interview has been canceled. Sorry for any inconvenience, and we will let you know when a time for rescheduling is established.”
The couple was directed to a number of websites, but none of them have any information on what they should do next, Sobhani told CNN.
He said he responded to the email. “They are probably flooded – I haven’t heard anything back yet, and it has been a couple of days,” Sobhani told CNN.
“For me, I’m scheduled to fly back Sunday. Maybe I’ll stay longer. I work for Hershey, and they have been extremely supportive of whatever I need to do here. But for Solmaz, we are trying to figure out what’s the best thing to do for her. I don’t see how she can go back to Iran at this point with her five suitcases.”
Pennsylvania”Senator Bob Casey’s office has been in touch with Sobhani’s family regarding their situation, Jacklin Rhoads, a representative from Casey’s office, said.
Casey, a Democrat, addressed President Trump’s executive order Monday with a letter to Secretary John F. Kelly of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Policy changes need to be driven by the professional advice of homeland security experts, not by politics, fear or discrimination,” Casey wrote.