A federal court in the United States has ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjudicate the green card and work permit applications of Iranian couple Zahra Shokri Varniab and Ashkan Pourabhari Langroudi, which had been put on hold indefinitely following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. 

The couple, who are doctors at Stanford University, are among thousands of people from an initial 19 countries, later expanded to 20 more, including Nigeria, affected by the offending memos PM-602-0192 and PM-602-0194, issued by the USCIS in December 2025 and January 2026, respectively, which ordered immigration officers to continue processing cases but delay making a final decision indefinitely.

Following the announcement of the policy, the couple immediately filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to force the USCIS to make a decision on their applications, an attempt that was fiercely opposed by the U.S. government, arguing that decision to pause decisions on green card and work permit applications indefinitely was due to national security concerns.

In a ruling on Friday, Judge Susan Van Keulen of the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California, granted by the couple an injunction compelling the USCIS to adjudicate their applications within 30 days, citing the likelihood of the case to succeed. She also argued that the couple are not challenging denial but the failure of the immigration agency to rule on their applications. 

The judge also held that the indefinite delay with no ‘discernible endpoint’ is likely unreasonable, adding that despite the national security concern point used by Mr Trump to hold immigration benefits of applicants from 39 countries, no specific concern was identified about the plaintiffs.

However, the injunction only protects Ms Varniab and Ms Langroudi. 

Ms Van Keulen appears to be the first judge to rule against the indefinite hold policy, rejecting the ‘national security’ argument as baseless, senseless and unnecessarily cruel as it targets people by country of origin rather than allowing cases to fail or succeed on individual merits as designed by law.

Immigration experts described the policy as the most draconian, patently illegal immigration policy ever announced by a U.S. administration because it specifically targeted people already present in the country, valid visa holders, green card holders, and even citizens trying to bring their spouse or children into the country.