Palestinian visa appeals to be decided within seven working days 

Four applications for judicial review had been before the court, with four Gazan students seeking reviews of the handling of their visa applications. File picture: Hannah McCarthy

The Department of Justice has agreed to decide the visa appeals of dozens of Gazan scholarship students within seven working days.

In a surprise development before the High Court on Monday, the State said decisions on all outstanding visa appeals involving Gazan students holding scholarships would be issued by Wednesday, November 18.

The next evacuation flight from Gaza is scheduled for November 23.

Four applications for judicial review had been before the court, with four Gazan students seeking reviews of the handling of their visa applications.

Counsel for justice minister Jim O'Callaghan told the court that all appeals involving Gazan scholarship students would be determined by next week, a move that came as a surprise to the students and their legal representatives.

The Department of Justice had previously argued that visa appeals could take up to 12 months to process.

Some 55 Gazan students had appealed early rejections of their visa applications, the majority on the grounds of insufficient paperwork.

Each of those students had been granted fully funded scholarships by Irish third-level institutions and had been due to begin their one-year Master’s programmes last September.

It is understood that the majority of those scholarships remain live, with third-level institutions offering extensions to most of the students.

Counsel for the students argued that it was not possible to provide all of the required documentation because Gaza's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed during three years of Israeli bombardment.

In 2025, Ireland refused 22 out of 164 Palestinian applications for long-stay study visas, a refusal rate of 13%. This year, however, 114 out of 138 applications have been refused — a refusal rate of 83%.

Two weeks ago, the High Court found there had been “significant and demonstrable errors” in the State’s refusal of a study visa to a Gazan student who was offered a scholarship by University College Cork (UCC).

Shaymaa Abudalu, 20, was awarded a fully funded scholarship to study engineering at UCC but was denied a visa in July on various grounds.

Ms Abudalu’s challenge to the refusal was the lead case in a tranche of 39 similar lawsuits being taken by other Palestinian students who were denied visas.

Mr Justice Anthony Barr ordered that the student’s visa application be remitted and considered afresh, directing that, because of the urgency of the case, the application be determined within 10 working days. 

That decision is due on Friday.

Susan Doyle of Douglas firm SMD Solicitors represented two of the students whose cases were before the High Court on Monday.

She said lawyers had been asking Mr O’Callaghan to prioritise the students’ cases since August.

“It is surprising that it took the minister this long given his recognition of the genocide in Gaza,” she said.

Sinéad Marmion, a partner in Belfast firm Phoenix Law who represented the other two students, said she was mindful of the next evacuation on November 23.

“We hope that these decisions are meaningful enough to allow those students to leave Gaza,” she said.

The Department of Justice was asked for comment.