17 January 2022
Open Letter to the Embassy of Ireland in Abu Dhabi

As signers of this open letter, we are calling the Embassy of Ireland in Abu Dhabi to withdraw their discriminatory visa rejection decision that restricts an international researcher’s academic freedom and right to travel.

Mustafa Keshkeia, an instructor at Damascus University, applied for a student visa on 20.09.2021 to pursue his academic studies in Ireland after winning the prestigious PhD Scholarship with full coverage offered by the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS), Dublin City University (DCU). He provided all the required documentation, including proof of his scholarship, his acceptance letter, financial support, and much more. However, his student visa application was rejected on 12.10.2021 for a number of discriminatory reasons by the Embassy of Ireland, Abu Dhabi. Mustafa appealed against the visa refusal and provided more documentation to support his application. Yet, his appeal was also rejected on 16.12.2021 based on another discriminatory reason:

OC: - Observe the conditions of the student visa - the visa sought is for a specific purpose and duration. The Appeals Officer has examined and considered all information and documentation submitted. You have not sufficiently satisfied the Appeals Officer that your primary objective is to pursue a course of studies, nor sufficiently satisfied the Appeals Officer there is economic opportunities in your country of origin that would encourage you to leave Ireland upon completion of your course of study.

We call on the Embassy of Ireland, Abu Dhabi to withdraw this decision that restricts an international researcher’s academic freedom and right to travel. It is a discriminatory prejudgement to reject the visa application intended for academic research by only refering to the economic opportunities in the applicant’s ‘country of origin’. Mustafa has already expressed and shown in his documents that he has no intention to stay in Ireland after he finishes his studies because, first, his accepted research project is about the ‘country of his origin’ and all the data collection will take place there. Second, he is leaving his beloved wife and three children there in his ‘country of origin’, and he already has a ‘life’ there. He already assured his family and Embassy that he will come back after completing his studies. Finally, Mustafa has been working as an instructor at Damascus University, and his plan is to return there and share his experiences and knowledge with his colleagues as a Doctor in the field of Crisis Translation.

In the words of Mustafa Keshkeia:

The refusal of my visa application made me believe that Visa Officers treated my application with a great deal of bias. And the justification is based only on my country of origin. They simply looked at one thing: where am I from, and disregarded any other factors, such as my academic background or my other achievements that led me to be awarded a prestigious scholarship by a renowned academic institution. Their only excuse was that they did not believe that I would go to Ireland to do research and study, and there is nothing in my homeland that would encourage me to leave Ireland after the completion of my studies.

We believe that this decision of the Embassy of Ireland in Abu Dhabi is highly troubling and limits the academic freedom and right to travel of international researchers, which undermine the scientific community, advancement of knowledge and efforts to support multinational communication. In our view, the visa decisions should be based on factual assessments of the documentation provided, rather than origins of the country.

In signing this letter, we repeat our call for urgent action from the Embassy of Ireland, Abu Dhabi to withdraw and reconsider its discriminatory decision that restricts an international researcher’s academic freedom and right to travel without any substantial reasons.

130
signatures
110 verified
  1. Gökhan Fırat, PhD Student/Postgraduate Researcher, University of Surrey, Guildford
  2. RASHEED Abdul Hadi, Specialist Visiting Lecturer, Bath Spa University, Bath
  3. Lamiaa Abed, MA student, Damascus University, Damascus
  4. Gokhan Dogru, Postdoctoral Researcher, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona
  5. Dr Khetam Al Sharou, Researcher, Imperial College London, London
  6. Oussama Rabi, Researcher, Targamat, Lausanne
  7. Munira Hamad, Head of Department of English, Damascus University, University of Damascus, Damascus
  8. Naima Ihami, PhD, Academic, Granada University, Granada
  9. Jouned D.I., Reasearcher, TUW, Vienna
  10. S. Garrett, PGR Researcher, Loughborough University, Loughborough
  11. Dr Laurence Cox, Associate Professor, Maynooth University, Maynooth
  12. Jo Taylor, Solidarity Economy Association, Brighton, UK
  13. Patrick Cadwell, Lecturer, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
  14. Lorenzo Bondioli, Researcher, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
  15. Ilya Afanasyev, Lecturer, London
  16. Maude Casey, Brighton Migrant Solidarity, Brighton, England
  17. Ali Allaham, Dean Higher Language Institute, Damascus University, Damascus
  18. Conor Dempsey, PhD, Data scientist, London
  19. Conor Houghton, Scientist, University of Bristol, Bristol
  20. Jean Keegan, Dublin 5
...
70 more
verified signatures
  1. Cóilín Parsons, Associate Professor of English, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  2. Prasanna Ramaswamy, Scientist, Cork
  3. Catherine Healy, Trinity College Dublin
  4. Arjumand Younus, Research Scientist and Lecturer, Technological University Dublin, Dublin
  5. Muhammad Atif Qureshi, Lecturer, Technological University Dublin, Dublin
  6. Tim Downing, Lecturer, Dublin City University, Dublin
  7. Liam White, Nurse, Tcd, Dublin
  8. Deirdre McGuinness, Beaumont
  9. Niamh Moran, Lecturer, Rcsi, Dublin
  10. Ceri Almrott, Lecturer in Product Design, Technological University Dublin
  11. Therese Herlihy, University lecturer, University College Dublin, Dublin 16
  12. Dylan Higgins, Student, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
  13. Sheila Smith, Retired, Ratoath
  14. John Drinane, Climate Activist, Swords
  15. John Boyce, Consultant, Dublin
  16. Kalpana Shankar, Professor, Dublin
  17. Claire Blennerhassett, Schol., Creative Artist, TCD Graduate, Kildare
  18. Dr,Moustafa Abdelbaki, Chief operation officer, Domiatec Holding, Cairo
  19. Mikhail Ramendik, IT professional, Limerick
  20. Jordi Bancells Borràs, Proofreader, Vic, Catalonia
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