Fully funded Gaza students’ study visa applications rejected

The Department of Justice has been criticised for rejecting study visa applications from fully funded students in Gaza who were accepted by Irish universities.

The level of rejections has surprised many, given that Ireland is one of the EU’s most pro-Palestinian members.

The Department of Justice insists that there has been no change to the requirements to obtain a visa and says each application, regardless of nationality, is decided on its own merit.

But the universities say the requirements are much more rigorously enforced this year. The Vice-President of Global Engagement at Trinity College Dublin, Dr Emma Stokes, said that they were being applied inconsistently.

“The successful applicants were all in receipt of Government of Ireland scholarships. But students with the exact same – or greater – financial resources through full scholarships provided by colleges and universities were refused visas,” said Stokes, who co-ordinates a Gaza sectoral network across Irish universities.

One reason cited as grounds to refuse a visa was that there was “no evidence you’ll return to your home country”, but in real terms, this was exceedingly difficult for students to produce, she told University World News.

She gave the example of a student who was refused but had a five-year fully funded scholarship to study engineering with a one-year ‘stay-back’ visa (which allows non-EU students who graduate from Irish institutions to work full-time without an employer-sponsored work permit).

“It would be six years before the student would even consider returning. How is this student to produce evidence of a plan to return before their study even begins? I think we can all agree that we hope Gaza will look vastly different in six years’ time and that a return would be more than feasible.”

Another applicant was told they could appeal the rejection. “Fine, but an appeal of a visa decision could take up to a year, and it must be submitted by post. This excludes any student seeking to start their studies in September, not to mention the fact that the postal system in Gaza has been destroyed,” she added.

Rising number of rejections

Last year, the Justice Department received 164 Type D Long Stay Study visa applications from Palestinian nationals. It issued 114 such visas to Palestinians and refused 22 applications. This year the figures are quite different for refusals.

Up to 21 August there were 130 Type D Long Stay Study visa applications from Palestinian nationals. In the same period, the department issued 39 but refused 103 others.

The former UK ambassador to Ireland, Paul Johnston, who is now director general of the Irish Universities Association, said it had immediately approached the government with concerns “when the higher than previously observed levels of rejections of visas for students from Gaza first became apparent”.

He added that Irish universities “have shared this country’s horror at the appalling crisis in Gaza and its human implications, not least on young people”.

Higher Education Minister James Lawless said his officials were in touch with their counterparts in the Justice Department as he was with Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan.