Nigerian academic forced to quit PhD studies over ‘hypocritical’ visa requirements

12 comments
  1. > “I was put in that position simply because of my identity, simply because of where I come from and the fact that I am not an EU citizen,”

    Nah, nothing to do with her identity, let’s not confuse things . It’s because she was approved for a visa. Not her Family.

  2. Tl;Dr: she got a grant to do a PhD. She’s not Irish or European, but secured a visa (student visa) for herself during her studies. Her family back home (Nigeria) obviously doesn’t qualify for a visa, because they’re not European (free travel), they cannot work here (visa stuff), and she doesn’t make enough to support them here on one income. Literally nothing hypocritical about that.

    >Ms Abagun was asked to demonstrate she would have a net income per week of €511 for each week spent in Ireland — roughly €107,000 per year.

    Ugh… Would it not be closer to like €30k per year?

  3. I don’t know about WIT but non-EU nationals I know who have done PhDs at other colleges have been made aware from the outset that a student visa isn’t an open opportunity for the family, that restrictions including finances will likely prevent their family joining them. A friend did a PhD at UCD, and saw her daughter once a year. It was tough, I personally don’t know how she did it, but she said “I knew the sacrifices when I applied”

    This WIT student could have done a PhD in Nigeria.

  4. Completely fair. The stipend offered is €64,000 for the four years, or €16,000 a year. She can’t support herself and two others on that, and not being at risk of becoming a burden on the state is a standard visa requirement.

  5. Failing to see what the issue is. She has the opportunity to have a funded PhD education which will require her to sacrifice her time with her family. Welcome to the real world, you’re welcome.

  6. Given she hasn’t a rashers what the word “hypocritical” means I wouldn’t have particularly high hopes for the auld PhD anyway.

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