Help Palestinian students reach UK universities
Over eighty Palestinian students set to study at UK universities – including Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh – are currently unable to leave Gaza due to UK visa biometric data requirements. With no functioning visa centres in Gaza and no safe route to neighbouring countries, they are effectively blocked from taking up their places.
As recently outlined in the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Channel 4 News and Times Higher Education, UK visas require applicants to enrol their biometric data before an application can be processed. Since 7th October 2023, the Visa Application Centre in Gaza has been closed, with UK Visas and Immigration citing safety concerns for staff and applicants. While there is a biometrics deferral protocol, put in place in 2023, requests have been ignored when students have requested to apply for a deferral. Although some have managed to submit requests via legal counsel, they must wait weeks for a decision as to whether or not they are eligible for a deferral request, and only then put in an application dossier. Requests to expedite this process have gone unanswered.
These eight students face an administrative block in the UK visa system that reinforces Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza.
Positive Action in Housing, which is also backing the campaign, points out that instead of protection, the students face a biometric blockade:
- Families are being asked to withdraw their family reunion applications because they are unable to submit biometrics in Gaza and risk being refused. Why are they being asked to withdraw an application?
- Others are being refused outright for ‘failure’ to submit biometrics because the process is so complex — no visa centre exists and the borders are sealed.
- Lawyers themselves are struggling to navigate the 59-page visa rules, while Palestinians are left in limbo.
- The Home Office insists Palestinians can “use existing routes.” But these routes are structurally blocked, and each delay means people are starved, bombed, and killed.
“This is not bureaucracy — it is cruelty by design. For Ukrainians, every barrier was lifted. For Palestinians, every door is closed,” says Robina Qureshi of Positive Action in Housing.
As pressure mounts on the government to find a way to support sustainable peace in the region, a first step is to let our universities do what they do best in building the capacity of these scholars and equipping them with cutting-edge resources in health, humanities, engineering, and social sciences. Inaction is preventing talented Palestinian students and scholars from taking up their places in the UK. This, in turn, is stifling a generation of leaders who need tools to rebuild their communities in Gaza.
The NUS is calling on the UK government to:
- Grant student visas and ensure safe passage
- Defer the biometrics to a safe third country
- Evacuate the students from Gaza immediately
- Hold an urgent meeting with Abtisam Mohamed MP to address the concerns raised by her and over 100 MPs.
| How You Can Help: Write to your MP today — refuse to accept “existing routes” as an answer. Use this template letter and or email your MP, also here. Visit the campaign link. |
Donate to the Gaza Appeal Fund
Positive Action in Housing has launched the Gaza Appeal Fund. All donations to go directly to help Palestinian families or individuals from Gaza who are in emergency need. Share this link with family and friends and encourage them to share too.
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