Christina Rogers and Mostafa Rezazadeh want to get married at the historic chapel in Las Vegas featured in the movie “Viva Las Vegas.”
But as a Plan B, the couple will get married at San Francisco City Hall. As a Plan C, they will make an appointment at San Jose City Hall. And for Plan D, Rogers, 37, will travel thousands of miles to meet Rezazadeh in the republic of Georgia.
Rezazadeh, 41, who was born and raised in Tehran, Iran where he now owns a food manufacturing company, has been waiting 18 months to receive a K-1 visa, which allows people to come to the United States, then requires them to marry within 90 days. Afterward, they can apply for permanent residency, Rogers said in an interview.
The couple’s hopes for a U.S. wedding been thrown into more uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s travel ban and intensifying military strikes between Iran and Israel, leaving the couple’s future in flux.
“It’s hard. It’s very hard,” Rogers said. “Because you’re still processing it, you don’t want to give up, you don’t want to think it’s impossible, but you’re also trying to see how it will be possible.”
The travel ban, which targets 12 countries primarily in the Middle East and Africa, including Iran, indefinitely bars residents of those countries from entering the United States. The ban has exemptions for lawful residents of the United States and some others.
Last week, Israel struck Iran in a move that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was meant to eliminate Iranian nuclear capabilities. Since then, the two countries have attacked each other with missiles, and Trump has publicly said that he was considering direct U.S. involvement in the broadening war.
Rogers, a resident of Vallejo who works at her church and is pursuing a master of social work degree, is now “channeling (her) own stress and anxiety” into finding a way for Rezazadeh to come to the United States.
She said she is working with Rep. John Garamendi’s office to figure out what comes next, and has also reached out to the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey, where Rezazadeh applied for his visa, and other government offices.
“This is something I’ve made one of my jobs and missions,” she added. “I’m working on this as though I’m an immigration lawyer.”
She said she was not sure whether hiring an immigration attorney would have any impact under the travel ban. The couple could apply for a waiver, but Rogers said she was not optimistic because of the low rate of success, with only about 2% of applications for waivers approved after Trump’s first travel ban, in 2017.
Garamendi’s office has called on the Trump administration to reverse the ban, said Cameron Niven, communications director for the congressman, whose district includes portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. embassy in Ankara did not respond to requests for comment.
Rogers and Rezazadeh met more than two years ago when Rezazadeh’s cousin in the Bay Area set them up to meet online, Rogers said. They immediately “hit it off” and began dating, she added – texting, video chatting and “trying to keep each other as much in the loop” as they could. The couple first met in person two years ago, and got engaged while traveling together in Turkey a few months later.
Rogers filed the petition for Rezazadeh’s K-1 visa in December 2023, she said. In May 2024, the petition was approved, and in November he traveled to the embassy in Ankara for his interview.
“Things were actually going pretty smoothly,” Rogers said. The next step in the visa approval process was completion of a background check, she said.
“That was eight months ago,” Rogers said. “That’s something I’ve learned is typical for Iranian cases. … There’s no definitive time when his case will be out of administrative processing.”
“We were hoping he’d be here by Christmas,” she said, adding that her mom had bought the couple matching pajamas as a Christmas gift.
Rogers first heard rumors of a new ban in April, but Rezazadeh remained optimistic, she said. Two months later, their fears were realized when Trump announced the new restriction.
Rogers, who said she “was freaking out” after news of the ban broke, put her energy into finding ways to bringing her fiancé to the U.S. — before world events again threatened their ever-changing plans, she said.
“At this point, I’m not even as worried about the travel ban. I’m more worried about the conflict escalating.”
Rezazadeh and his family hear the bombs going off in Tehran at night, Rogers said. He sends her videos of fires and missiles flying over the city.
“Because I’m able to see that he’s taking the video and he’s not being harmed, it makes me feel better,” she added. “It’s hard to watch.”
Rezazadeh is a caretaker for his parents, helping his father after he suffered a stroke and his mother while she recovers from knee replacement surgery, Rogers said. His siblings will take over their care if he leaves for the U.S., she added.
“It’s not something they want to do unless they absolutely have to,” Rogers said. “I don’t know exactly if he’s in imminent danger, and so that’s stressful for me.”
Rogers added that she worries about the impact the United States potentially entering a conflict with Iran would have on the ability of Iranians to immigrate here. But for her and her fiancé, the challenges are personal.
“I’m invested in him, I’m invested in his safety, I’m invested in getting him to the finish line.
“Take all the politics out and people are people,” she added. “Just like I have no control over my government, he has no control over his government. … We are just trying to live our lives and make the most out of a difficult situation.
“All I want is to get married,” she said,” for my fiance to come to America, for us to get married and start our life together and wear our matching PJs.”