A newlywed doctor in New Hampshire was reunited Wednesday with his wife, an Iranian citizen who successfully traveled to the United States after President Donald Trump’s travel ban held up their plans.
Dr. Omid Moghimi, a U.S. citizen who works at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said a visa interview for his wife was canceled after Trump’s executive order took effect last month barring travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, from entering the U.S. A judge later blocked the order, and an appeals court refused to reinstate it.
The White House maintained the travel restrictions were essential for safety. Trump has said he plans to issue a revised order.
Moghimi, 28, was born in Maryland and grew up in his father’s native Iran, where he met Dorsa Razi. The couple married in 2015 and went through months of paperwork to bring her to the U.S. Moghimi, an internist, hadn’t seen his wife since May, after they had gone on a honeymoon to India.
Razi’s visa interview took place last week in Abu Dhabi. Razi, who is in her early 20s, boarded a plane and arrived in Boston on Wednesday morning to meet family and friends.
“We wish everyone the best, and this is still an ongoing process, and for us as well,” Moghimi said at a news conference at Logan International Airport. “If my wife wants to go back to Iran, if she wants to have her parents come and visit, everything is still uncertain. The story’s not over yet, but we’re very relieved.”
Moghimi had contacted U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Rep. Annie Kuster, all Democrats, for help with his wife’s visa process.
Shaheen said she’s relieved that the couple can finally settle in New Hampshire. “Dorsa should have never been prevented from traveling here, and this incident demonstrates the wrong-headedness of President Trump’s un-American travel ban,” she said.
Shaheen’s office had petitioned the State Department and the U.S. embassy in Abu Dhabi for expedited consideration of Razi’s visa request.
“We supported Omid’s ongoing efforts to bring his wife to the U.S. because it is the right thing to do,” said Mike Barwell, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock spokesman. “We wish them well in their new life together.”
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