Today the court heard that the increased visa refusal rate for Palestinian students could be due to a visa processing shift from the Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv to the Department of Justice in Dublin, which was called “fundamentally unfair”. The University Times reported that the visa acceptance rate for Palestinian students is 30 per cent, compared to last year when it was 85 per cent. The hearing is before Mr Justice Anthony Barr.
The high court is currently hearing the case of student Shauna Abudalu, but it is understood as an example case that her lawyers hope will open avenues to appeals and reversals of decisions for other Gazan applicants. Abudalu has been offered a fully funded place in Engineering at University College Cork (UCC). Her visa was refused under the conditions that documentation provided was insufficient to be able to successfully obtain her undergraduate degree.
Her lawyer told the court that Abudalu’s refusal letter came from the Embassy of Ireland to the State of Israel, and furthermore that applications were previously being processed through the Embassy rather than in the Department of Justice. The court heard that previously the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had been working under “delegated sanction” to process applications. Mr Justice Barr said he did not believe visa decisions would be delegated because they are processed “under the name of the Minister”. The respondent (the Department of Justice) has not clarified this.
Abudalu’s lawyer pointed out that the embassy has “expertise” in what is happening in Gaza, including the types of acceptable bank statements and English proficiency certificates. Abudalu’s lawyer noted that the Department’s own regulations do not permit online bank statements, but previously they had been acceptable given the circumstances in Gaza. Mr Justice Barr then summarised that Abudalu “followed the customs and practices that had been in place because they were student Visa applicants from Gaza.” Abudalu’s lawyer also noted that her application was created with assistance from UCC, who have previously successfully advised students from Gaza on the visa process.
The court heard that the shift from the Embassy to the Department of Justice was a “fundamental unfairness”.
Notably, while this case is being treated as an example case, the hearing opened with the discovery that the visa decision-maker for Abudalu was given substantial evidence of her English proficiency over email by UCC, but for whatever reason, the paperwork was not in front of the decision-maker.
Mr Justice Barr suggested the missed email may have been a “computer glitch”. However, he also noted that the glitch was “good for this applicant (Abudalu) bad for others”, meaning that if this decision is overturned on the basis of a computer glitch omitting her English proficiency scores, the decision cannot be used as precedent to apply to other student Visa refusals.
The decision on Abudalu’s visa was called “clearly erroneous” by her lawyer, especially given “the government’s stated support of Palestine”.
During the hearing, both Mr Justice Barr and the respondent, the Department of Justice’s legal team, underscored the amount of countries the department processes visas from. The respondent noted the information being available on the website, and Mr Justice Barr said that this “could be an American person”. However, there are significant differences between student visa applicants from America and Palestine. America is a “visa-free” country, and students only have to prove access to finances for one year of their studies (roughly €6,665). Students from Palestine, who are visa required, must prove they have immediate access to up to €10,000 (because they must reside in Ireland full-time) and then ready access to €10,000 for each subsequent year of study. For a four-year degree, this means €40,000.
The opposing council declared a key factor in the rejection of Abudalu’s request was that “the applicant may overstay her visa” due to insufficient evidence of strong ties to her dedication to return to her country of origin upon completion of her studies.
Should Abudalu be denied appeal, she would have to wait a year to begin her studies at UCC. According to recent Reuters reports, Gaza is slated to be entrenched in further famine and food scarcity with over 500,000 receiving cuts to World Food Programme aid in light of funding shortages to the organization. Abudalu’s legal team claims that these unique circumstances facing Gazan students seeking appeal differentiate them from other applicants, with a year delay in study not only unfortunate but could be ultimately “life-threatening” for the student being denied.
