The U.S. government has been changing many of its immigration policies lately. I know for a fact that these new policies will impact the ability of many highly skilled researchers with doctoral degrees from Iran (and others) to stay and work in the U.S.

Earlier this month, I was attending NeurIPS and saw that these policies have triggered a massive panic. I saw many of my friends—people completing Ph.D.s in AI and adjacent fields at top U.S. universities—who now find themselves in a desperate situation. Despite having job offers from top AI, finance, and hardware (and etc.) companies, they are now unable to work. and instead, may need to leave the country. It has completely disrupted their lives; they can’t sleep, they can’t concentrate, and they are left wondering what to do.

I don’t want to argue about the specific technical aspects of these policies right now — and there is a lot to be said about that. Instead, I want to emphasize that my friends and I had—and some still have—an expectation of stability in rules and regulations. We expected the U.S. to follow its own 250-year tradition of seeking out the best people for the job, regardless of their origin.