The announcements are in the mail. The cap and gown are waiting in the box. On May 10, Shabnam Seddigh, a senior in liberal studies, will graduate from Iowa State.

But what should be a time of celebration is quickly turning into a time of frustration.

Seddigh’s father cannot attend her graduation. It’s not because he doesn’t want to see his eldest child graduate from college. It’s not because he doesn’t have the money to travel to Ames.

Mahmoud Seddigh won’t see his daughter graduate because the government won’t let him in the country.

Mahmoud Seddigh is from Iran.

“I’m not proud to be an American citizen right now,” Shabnam Seddigh said. Seddigh’s mother, an American citizen, and her father met while they were both students at Iowa State. Her father, from Tehran, Iran, graduated in 1969 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Seddigh lived with her mother and father in Iran until 1979. She returned to America with her mother after her parents divorced. She hasn’t been back to Iran since 1991. Her father hasn’t been to America since 1991.

“I understand the U.S. is being careful about everything,” she said. “But, I have rights, too. Why can’t my father come visit me?”

Why? Because the United States is being “careful not to admit terrorists,” Seddigh said.

Government restrictions are preventing most Iranians from entering the country.

Seddigh’s father has been denied a visa.

“There’s always stereotypes about people,” Seddigh said. “And the U.S. wants to keep Americans safe. But they make it so one man can’t come visit his daughter.”

Seddigh said her father pays her tuition and many of her expenses.

Mahmoud Seddigh applied for a visa at the American Embassy in London. According to Shabnam Seddigh, he was told he would have to reside for four weeks in London while his application was being processed. But he had to return to work in Iran.

Shabnam Seddigh said her father suggested she, as an American citizen, might have more influence.

“For days I tried to contact the [American] Embassy in London,” she said. “But I always got a busy signal or a recording or they were closed.”

She then thought of writing a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley to see if there were anything he could do to help. In her letter, Seddigh stated the only purpose for her father’s visit was to see her graduation.

A reply letter sent to Grassley by embassy officials stated that due to the sanctions against Iran, “no further action can be taken on Mr. Seddigh’s application at this time.”

The letter indicates Mahmoud Seddigh was found ineligible for a visa because of President Clinton’s executive order, issued in May of 1995. The order imposed economic and other sanctions on Iran.

Shabnam Seddigh said to categorically deny visas to almost everyone from Iran is ridiculous. “I don’t understand how [Iranian] students can come here and stay for months, but they can’t let someone just come for a week,” she said.