UK’s catch 22 traps Gazan students
JVL Introduction
At least 40 and as many as 76 students from Gaza are unable to take up their places at UK Universities because, and this is the generous interpretation, of UK bureaucracy operating in some sort of a vacuum that does not factor in the reality that these students cannot provide the biometric data the UK requires because the Centre in Gaza where this can be done has been has been closed since October 2023 and, of course, there is no way they can travel to neighbouring countries to get the required check.
Furthermore, as Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, notes in his important Independent article:
“While a biometrics deferral protocol was put in place in 2023 for Ukrainians, Palestinian requests for the deferral have encountered a bureaucratic stone wall. Although the government says there are pathways for application, not a single one has been approved, even for scholars with government-issued scholarships.”
Professor Shlaim also notes that 5,000 academics campaigned for the Starmer administration to facilitate the safe passage of these students from Gaza to the UK.
The government knows as well as the rest of us what these students are enduring in Gaza and they are the hope for its future as well. Other countries, eg Ireland, Italy, France and Germany have already taken in students from Gaza why not the UK, which is effectively boycotting people from Gaza while continuing to trade with – and send arms to – Israel?
There is a short video at the end of this article and another within the Avi Shlaim article linked above.
LL
This article was originally published by The Canary on Fri 15 Aug 2025. Read the original here.
Home Office denying Palestinian students visas to study in the UK
The following is a statement from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Global Legal Action Network, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Health Workers 4 Palestine, and War on Want.
As UK organisations working on human rights, we urge the government to urgently facilitate the visa applications of over 40 Palestinian students in Gaza who have been offered scholarships, but have been unable to get their applications processed due to not being able to provide their biometrics.
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When this situation started to surface, I wrote urgently to my old university of York to find what was happening to the three Gaza scholarships set up in response to the student solidarity camp. I was assured that all was well. This year, seems to be even worse, so I have written again. Will share results. Meanwhile what action do we take?