Brookfield man’s Iranian wife banned from entering U.S.
Research chemist lives and works in C anada
Brookfield engineering executive Ricky Smith got married in Canada in March.
Now he is worried he might never get to bring his bride home for good.
Because of the travel ban instituted by President Donald Trump, Smith is stuck in a limbo of not knowing when he would be able to live with his Iranian wife and start a family.
The travel ban prohibits immigrant and non-immigrant visas and limits entry to the United States by certain citizens of Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela.
Smith, president of R.A. Smith Inc. in Brookfield, met his wife, Mona Ashraf Khorasani, in Iran nine years ago. He is an avid traveler, accustomed to visiting places as far-flung as Iceland and North Korea.
He read that Iran was an inexpensive
Hope “gives you a reason every day to get up each day and continue trying no matter how impossible things may seem.” Mona Ashraf Khorasani
and interesting place to go. He booked a trip for his 30th birthday and arrived the day before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as president for a second term.
The “Green Movement” unrest of 2009 erupted. Smith said he was in Isfahan when it started and his hotel was tear-gassed. His tour guide was horrified and wanted him to leave the country. Yet he didn’t want to go.
“I came here for my birthday, and it is not my birthday yet. I’m not going home,” he said.
Smith traveled to Kashan, which he described as in the middle of nowhere and where he hoped he would be safe. Ashraf Khorasani was there, having lunch with her brother; she was visiting him.
Smith was having lunch with his tour guide and driver. Ashraf Khorasani, who was sitting nearby, was making fun of her brother, who couldn’t speak English fluently.
“She came over to my table to apologize because she thought maybe I thought they were laughing at me,” he said.
They introduced themselves to each other. He learned Ashraf Khorasani was a graduate student studying organic chemistry. She had dreams of studying in either Canada or the United States. She asked for his email address, which he happily gave her.
“It was a one in a million chance encounter. I wasn’t supposed to be in Kashan and at that restaurant. It was amazing,” he said.
The government in Iran cut off all internet access during the protest, but when Smith returned to the U.S. he found an email from Ashraf Khorasani. She invited him to dinner in Tehran and offered to show him around. He offered to meet her in Istanbul, Turkey, several months later.
“I wasn’t being serious; she took me up on it,” Smith said.
They spent time together and went sightseeing. At the airport, Ashraf Khorasani broke down in tears thinking she would never see him again.
He comforted her and said not to worry, they would see each other again. At that moment, Smith knew there was
something special between them.
A blossoming relationship
Over the next few years, they traveled together and Ashraf Khorasani applied to graduate schools in Canada and the U.S. She was given a full scholarship to Queen’s University in Canada to get her Ph.D. in organic chemistry.
The couple knew there would be issues after she applied for her initial Canadian visa.
“This whole immigration system is almost like a black box; you don’t have any visibility in it,” Smith said.
As it turned out, she was not approved because she didn’t send in her college transcripts, although they weren’t listed on the checklist of things she was asked to supply.
Eventually, she got her visa and left her parents, her two brothers and dog behind in Iran. She arrived in Canada with three suitcases and a determination to further her education.
Every few months, Smith would fly to Canada to spend time with Ashraf Khorasani.
“It was always our dream she would finish her studies and get a job in the United States,” he said.
Smith said at that point it wasn’t about marriage, but about experiencing a normal relationship.
In 2014, Ashraf Khorasani applied for her first U.S. tourist visa and was able to visit Smith at least six times over the next few years.
Things started to normalize
Ashraf Khorasani adapted to life in Canada and became a teacher’s assistant at Queen’s University. For her tourist visas, she had to wait several months to be approved. The couple made it work by traveling to see each other, but soon a new normal threatened the arrangement.
In January 2017, Smith was in Australia attending the tennis open, when he read the news of plans to restrict travel from a number of Middle Eastern countries.
“This is when the whole nightmare began and turned our lives upside down,” he said.
Ashraf Khorasani explained how she has worked tremendously hard her entire life to achieve her goals and become who she is today.
She said she believes people should be evaluated based on their actions and achievements, not their nationality, physical appearance or other characteristics they have no control over.
Smith reached out to numerous immigration attorneys, and none of them had any good answers.
All the attorneys said either Smith had to bring Ashraf Khorasani to the U.S. on a fiancee visa or think about getting married. He was told Ashraf Khorasani just being his girlfriend didn’t really mean anything.
Smith admitted it took him time to come to terms with what he was dealing with. As the different travel bans were struck down in the courts, he started to feel hopeful. Ashraf Khorasani’s last visa was approved in December 2016, but then it was refused because of the first travel ban.
After one of the first versions of the ban was struck down, she was approved in February and came to the United States in May 2017. They were able to spend time together in Wisconsin.
Ashraf Khorasani insisted on going back to Canada for her graduation ceremony. She moved to Toronto and got a job as a research chemist at Dalton Pharma Services. Dalton is doing work for the U.S. Department of Defense to develop and test some malaria drugs.
Smith said his wife could discover a cure for cancer and still not be allowed here.
After the Supreme Court stayed the injunction and the third version of the travel ban took effect, it was a binary event for Smith.
“I said we need to get married. This is ridiculous. We have been dating for nine years,” he said.
Living a life together but separately
Smith said Ashraf Khorasani is the most important thing in the world to him. With the travel ban decision looming, Smith realized he wanted to take the next step.
The couple married in an intimate courthouse ceremony in Canada in March. There was no honeymoon or celebration. Smith flew home a few days after they were wed.
“I just got married, and now I’m going home alone. There is not a clear path forward at this point,” he said.
Last month the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Trump’s travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries, including Iran.
Smith phoned several attorneys all over the United States, and the news didn’t seem encouraging. He was told at one point there was a slim chance his wife would get a travel ban waiver.
“I was told I might as well forget it and accept that I would be separated from her,” Smith said.
Holding onto hope
Ashraf Khorasani finds the hardest thing about being away from her husband is living the best years of their lives separated from each other.
She said marriage is about being there in good times and bad, in sickness and health for each other.
“Ricky can visit me whenever he wants, but if he needed me (if he got sick), I couldn’t be there for him,” Ashraf Khorasani said.
She hopes in some cases in which families are separated or loved ones are in need of medical treatment, the travel waivers would be objectively considered and issued.
Smith often has to explain where his wife is and why . He said people don’t believe him because they assume because the couple is married, she would be allowed to live in the country.
Smith admitted to not knowing much about immigration before meeting Ashraf Khorasani. He wants to create a level of awareness for those in similar situations and embolden them to speak up and seek help.
If people take anything away from their story, Ashraf Khorasani wants people to understand the travel ban from a different perspective. She explained it is more than someone from outside the U.S. wanting to come here as a tourist.
“People’s lives are being torn apart, and many find themselves in worse situations than mine,” she said.
Currently, the couple is living on the hope elected officials will help them and other people in a similar situation to obtain a travel ban waiver.
For Ashraf Khorasani, in very challenging situations, sometimes all a person has is hope.
“It gives you a reason every day to get up each day and continue trying no matter how impossible things may seem,” she said.