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
  21. Joss Moorkens, Associate Professor, Dublin City University, Dublin
  22. Harun Siljak, Assistant Professor, Trinity College, Dublin
  23. Joanna Drugan, Academic, University of East Anglia, Norwich
  24. Esra Çinar, Translator and Interpreter, Barcelona
  25. Andy Way, Professor, DCU, Dublin
  26. Robert Gillanders, Associate Professor, DCU Anti-Corruption Research Centre, Dublin
  27. Vicent Briva Iglesias, PhD Researcher, Dublin City University, Dublin
  28. Rachel Moiselle, PhD Student, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
  29. Mikel L. Forcada, University Professor, Universitat d'Alacant, Alacant
  30. Rachna Shanbog, PhD student, Dublin City University, Dublin
  31. Anne Hargreaves, Translator, Millrace Translations, Colchester
  32. Christian Olalla-Soler, Post-doc researcher, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  33. Jonathan Spielberg, Brewery Manager, Dublin
  34. Oliver Czulo, Professor, Leipzig University, Leipzig
  35. Ashish Dha, Music teacher, Naadaalay, Dublin
  36. Joe O'Hara, Professor, DCU, Dublin
  37. Maarit Koponen, Professor, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
  38. Stefan Baumgarten, Professor, Universität Graz, Graz
  39. Aurelie Sicard, DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY, Dublin
  40. Rebecca Tipton PhD, Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation, University of Manchester, Manchester
  41. Sandra Milosavljević, Lecturer, Universität Graz, Graz
  42. Alessandra Rossetti, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Antwerp, Antwerp
  43. Constantin Orasan, Professor, University of Surrey, Guildford
  44. Adrià Martín-Mor, Assistant Professor, California State University, Long Beach
  45. Sharon O'Brien, Professor, DCU, Dublin
  46. Ana Guerberof Arenas, Researcher, University of Groningen, Groningen
  47. Susan Kelleher, Assistant Professor, Dublin City University, Dublin
  48. Tony Keene, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin
  49. Edel Conway, Professor, Dublin City University, Dublin
  50. Ciarán Lynch, PhD Candidate, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  51. Sidharth Budhiraja, Investment Research, Evalueserve, Noida
  52. Julia Kölbl, PhD candidate, University of Graz, Graz
  53. ahmad hakouk, PhD student, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul
  54. Lucas Nunes Vieira, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, Bristol
  55. Manuel Lardelli, PhD Student, Universität Graz, Graz
  56. Annalina Capuro, Assistant Professor, Dublin City University, Dublin
  57. Riona Finn, Former NCLT MSc member, DCU, Dublin
  58. Barbara Hinterplattner, PhD student/research assistant, Department of Translation Studies, University of Graz, Graz
  59. Isolde Schmitt, interpreter, University of Vienna, Vienna
  60. Eimear Madden, PhD candidate, University College London, London
  61. Rafael Schögler, Associate Professor, Department of Translation Studies, University of Graz, Graz
  62. Jefimija Cvijetić, Lecturer, Department of Translation Studies, Graz
  63. Delia Pagano, Senior Lecturer, University of Graz, Graz
  64. Teresa Lynn, Research Fellow, Dublin City University, Dublin
  65. Donatella Camedda, Lecturer, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
  66. Rudy Loock, University, Université de Lille
  67. Jose Gustavo Gongora Goloubintseff, Associate Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London, London
  68. Matt Riemland, PhD Student, Dublin City University, Dublin
  69. Sheila Castilho, researcher, ADAPT Centre, Dublin
  70. Emanuela Petrucci, Lecturer, University of Graz, Graz
  71. Mary Nurminen, University Instructor, Tampere University, Tampere
  72. Michaela Wolf, Associate Professor, University of Graz, Graz
  73. Tianqi Zhang, Lecturer, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona
  74. Wandri Jooste, Student, DCU, Greystones
  75. michele atzori, worker, crc posse, Casteddu, SRD
  76. Alicja Zajdel, researcher, University of Antwerp
  77. Boyi Huang, PhD Student, Dublin City University, Dublin
  78. Fatimah Ossman, Student, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
  79. Aoife Cahill, Director AI research, NJ, USA
  80. Christine Schlager, translator, Karl Franzens Universität Graz, Graz
  81. Nessma Diab, Assistant Lecturer, Ain Shams University, Cairo
  82. Kevin Flanagan, Anthropologist, Maynooth University, Kildare
  83. Maher Aldakkak, PhD Student, De Montfort University, Manchester
  84. David Orrego-Carmona, Lecturer, Aston University, Birmingham
  85. Eddie Lopez, PhD Student, Dublin City University (DCU), Dublin
  86. Nguyen Nguyen, PhD student, Dublin City University, Dublin
  87. Svenja Fröhlich, MA Student, Dublin City University, Dublin
  88. Ace, Student, VNIT, Hyderabad
  89. Dr. Mohamad Baalbaki, Consultant, Free, Mississauga
  90. Sophia Devlin, PhD Researcher, Ulster University, Derry
  91. Cóilín Parsons, Associate Professor of English, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  92. Prasanna Ramaswamy, Scientist, Cork
  93. Catherine Healy, Trinity College Dublin
  94. Arjumand Younus, Research Scientist and Lecturer, Technological University Dublin, Dublin
  95. Muhammad Atif Qureshi, Lecturer, Technological University Dublin, Dublin
  96. Tim Downing, Lecturer, Dublin City University, Dublin
  97. Liam White, Nurse, Tcd, Dublin
  98. Deirdre McGuinness, Beaumont
  99. Niamh Moran, Lecturer, Rcsi, Dublin
  100. Ceri Almrott, Lecturer in Product Design, Technological University Dublin
  101. Therese Herlihy, University lecturer, University College Dublin, Dublin 16
  102. Dylan Higgins, Student, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
  103. Sheila Smith, Retired, Ratoath
  104. John Drinane, Climate Activist, Swords
  105. John Boyce, Consultant, Dublin
  106. Kalpana Shankar, Professor, Dublin
  107. Claire Blennerhassett, Schol., Creative Artist, TCD Graduate, Kildare
  108. Dr,Moustafa Abdelbaki, Chief operation officer, Domiatec Holding, Cairo
  109. Mikhail Ramendik, IT professional, Limerick
  110. Jordi Bancells Borràs, Proofreader, Vic, Catalonia
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