Dublin, 1 September 2026 – The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), Action Aid Ireland, Amnesty International Ireland, Christian Aid Ireland, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), and Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance, are calling on Ireland’s Minister for Justice and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to immediately prioritise and expedite the visa appeals of Palestinian students from Gaza who have secured scholarships and places at Irish universities for the 2026/27 academic year.
There are at least 103 Palestinian students with fully or partially funded scholarships at Irish higher education institutions for the coming academic year who have had their visa applications refused. With the academic year fast approaching, these students face an appeals process that can take up to 12 months – entirely incompatible with courses due to begin within weeks.
Students have received scholarships to attend various Irish third level institutions, including Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University of Limerick (UL), University College Dublin (UCD), Atlantic Technological University (ATU), and Mary Immaculate College.
These students have already overcome extraordinary obstacles to secure admission and scholarships while living through the destruction of homes, universities and essential civilian infrastructure, mass displacement and the collapse of systems on which ordinary visa applications depend.
The refusals now threaten to deprive these students of the university places and scholarships they have secured. Unless their appeals are treated as a matter of urgency, those opportunities may be lost irrespective of whether the appeals are ultimately successful.
This is particularly acute for students on taught master’s programmes, where late entry is rarely possible. A successful appeal may provide no meaningful remedy if it comes after the academic year has begun.
The right to appeal must be meaningful in practice, not merely available in principle. An ordinary processing timeline cannot be applied where delay could result in the loss of an academic year and potentially a university place altogether.
The urgency of prioritising these appeals is heightened by serious questions surrounding the grounds for a significant number of refusals, including gaps in education or employment and concerns about financial independence and documentation.
The appeals process compounds these concerns, with requirements for original documents, physical bank statements and postal submission that may be impossible for students in Gaza to meet given the destruction of essential infrastructure.
Applying standard evidential requirements in these circumstances risks profoundly unequal outcomes. The Government must recognise that these are not ordinary visa applications: these students have been accepted by Irish universities and awarded scholarships, and should not be prevented from taking up those places by an appeals process that fails to reflect their circumstances.
The delays are not simply an unfortunate side effect of bureaucracy. For students living through an ongoing genocide, every additional month spent waiting in Gaza is consequential. Further delay risks extending the time they are forced to remain in conditions of extreme insecurity while placing their education and futures in limbo.
Given the Irish Government’s stated commitment to Palestinian rights, it has both an opportunity and an obligation to ensure that these students are not denied access to education because of delays in an appeals process that may extend far beyond the start of the academic year.
We therefore call on the Minister for Justice and the Department of Justice to immediately prioritise and expedite all outstanding visa appeals from Gaza scholarship students, ensuring that successful applicants have a genuine opportunity to travel to Ireland and begin their studies in the 2026/27 academic year.
The responsibility now rests with the Irish Government to ensure that these students are not denied their university places by a visa process that fails to account for the circumstances they are being forced to endure.
Signatories
Action Aid Ireland
Amnesty International Ireland
Christian Aid Ireland
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
International Centre of Justice for Palestinians
Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
1. The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
2. For more information, to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at [email protected].
Image: Sinn Féin via Wikimedia Commons
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