Inside STAT: An Iranian scientist wonders whether a U.S. lab job is worth being separated from family

IRANIAN SCIENTIST SOHEIL SAEEDI SARAVI IN HIS BOSTON APARTMENT. (ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR STAT)

Following the Trump administration’s attempted ban on immigration from certain countries, Soheil Saeedi Saravi was stuck in limbo. The Iranian pharmacologist and his wife had to wait eight months for the courts to block the executive order and for the couple’s visas to come through so that Saravi could start a fellowship in the U.S. Even though Saravi is now here, his wife is now back in Iran, enduring an ordeal that has so far lasted seven months when it should have been a routine visa renewal. And with such delays, scientists like Saravi are wondering whether staying in the U.S. and enduring long separations from family members is worth it. STAT’s Eric Boodman has more here.