Student from Gaza begins studies in Ireland after visa appeal
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Hafez Al-Rayyes, a 20-year-old Palestinian student from Gaza City, arrived in Dublin to study electronic engineering at Trinity College Dublin after successfully appealing an initial visa refusal.
Mr Al-Rayyes had been awarded a fully funded scholarship but received the refusal in July, despite having secured funding through private donations. He was displaced eight times since the war began and had been studying at the Islamic University of Gaza when it was bombed in October 2023.
He secured evacuation from Gaza with help from the Spanish government after also receiving a scholarship to a university there. While grateful for the opportunity, Mr Al-Rayyes expressed feelings of guilt about leaving his family behind in Gaza, where he says many of his peers have seen their education disrupted by the conflict. The Irish Department of Justice does not comment on individual cases but stated that each application is assessed individually and requires sufficient documentation.
Lawyers representing students in similar situations are pursuing appeals for over 50 other pending cases and hope to have a hearing scheduled soon. Mr Al-Rayyes will begin classes next Monday, a month into the academic year.
