{"id":240877,"date":"2025-09-20T07:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T07:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240877\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T07:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T07:11:10","slug":"palestinian-students-dreams-are-shattered-after-us-withdraws-visas-to-study-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240877\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian students\u2019 dreams are shattered after US withdraws visas to study in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 22-year-old Palestinian student planned to be in the US this month, preparing her dorm room ahead of starting her first semester at an American university. Instead, she is still in Gaza, desperately trying to gather food, water and internet access after being forced to flee her home in Gaza City after Israel launched a ground operation<\/a> to seize an area where approximately a million people live.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re just escaping and just going to nowhere,\u201d she told CNN by phone this week. \u201cI just wake up crying. I just sleep crying. I was hoping (for) something far away from what I\u2019m living right now and what I\u2019m living right now is like a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2024 the student, whose identity CNN is withholding due to concerns about retaliation, was admitted to study computer science in the US. But her plan was abruptly derailed when the Trump administration introduced a new policy last month to reject all non-immigrant visa requests from Palestinian Authority passport holders.<\/p>\n

Her acceptance to an American university was \u201cthe light at the end of the tunnel\u201d after living through a nightmare in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Just weeks after the latest Gaza war began in 2023 following the October 7 Hamas attack, she found herself next to her brother when an Israeli strike injured him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother was full of blood, and we were just turning in the streets, and bombs are \u2013 everywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cI took them as a fuel, as a fuel to continue, because a stop is never a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has prioritized pursuing her education, which was abruptly upended when the war began almost two years ago, and Israeli bombing forced her local university to shutter its doors.<\/p>\n

Her acceptance at an American College was the culmination of her efforts as she described ambition being her hobby, even while destruction and devastation dominated her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have the choice to stop in every moment, and every second. You need to have a plan to the second, to the next second, in your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some students cried for days feeling their \u201cdream collapsing,\u201d as one other student described, after the new visa policy was put into place. For her, it was another barrier \u2013 but not a dead end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suspension hit hard for me, but I was never, never shocked, because what it what else in this world seems realistic? Actually, nothing seems realistic,\u201d she said. \u201cI actually just can\u2019t handle anymore \u2013 we Palestinians, especially Gazans, are being forced \u2013 with our whole being \u2013 and we don\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she embarked this week on a 7-hour journey to southern Gaza, she made sure all of her university application documents were on Google drive. She plans to apply to another university outside the US for next year. But she also hopes there could be a change to the policy so she can come to the US.<\/p>\n

The State Department gave no indication they are planning to allow a carve-out of their current policy for students, calling every visa decision a national security decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department has paused the processing of nonimmigrant (NIV) visas for individuals traveling on a Palestinian Authority passport while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to vet individuals from Gaza,\u201d a State Department spokesperson told CNN. \u201cWe will take the time necessary to conduct a full and thorough review.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year more than 450 American university students held Palestinian passports, according to the Institute of International Education\u2019s Open Doors data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Tents<\/p>\n

Tents of displaced Palestinians stand in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, as plumes of smoke rise during Israeli bombardment above Gaza City on Friday. – Eyad Baba\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Applying \u2018could have literally cost me my life\u2019<\/p>\n

Applying to American universities during the war meant taking risks that were sometimes life threatening for each of the almost half a dozen Palestinian students who shared their stories with CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process of applying for this scholarship and submitting documents could have literally cost me my life every single time,\u201d another Palestinian student who was accepted to pursue a PhD in physics in the US told CNN. \u201cI had to walk for an hour to reach a border area near Egypt just to catch a weak internet signal, because all communications and internet were completely cut off, all while bombs were falling over my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has two young children and believed that attending an American program could save them \u2013 while death has been all around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the sea were made of ink, it would not be enough to describe the atrocities we are experiencing,\u201d she said, explaining the killing of many loved ones and dozens of forced displacements she and her family have been through.<\/p>\n

She is not alone in her determination to advance her education for the sake of her children and their safety.<\/p>\n

Another 40-year-old Palestinian pharmacist with three young children told CNN that his children were just as invested in the process as he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids were so eager,\u201d he said, \u201cAsking me when we go to the States, we went to the consulate, when will they give you the visa? Oh, my God, who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the steps he took in seeking to secure his master\u2019s degree in public and global health in the US were \u201charsh\u201d and \u201cunimaginable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding transcripts when schools were shuttered, getting recommendations from former colleagues navigating loss and fleeing their homes due to Israeli bombings and finding internet access made every step of the process treacherous.<\/p>\n

He was also trying to contact these people in Gaza while he was in Egypt, having fled with his family during the early months of the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of connections in Gaza, in my field \u2013 but how could I find some available, who is having, you know, who have a good internet access. And who it would be suitable and convenient for me to ask him such a question while he is in death, let\u2019s say, in hell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the people who wrote him a recommendation was a doctor who had just gotten out of the hospital himself after being injured. Once he found internet he got the student his recommendation \u2013 without any major delay.<\/p>\n

But despite his acceptance, the former pharmacist is now facing the heartbreaking reality that his dream will not come to fruition in the near-term due to the new visa policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe harsh reality is that when you just felt that you are arriving \u2013 at this summit, let\u2019s say everything has just changed in one second,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Palestinian student flees Israel’s ground incursion in Gaza City, the same week she expected to be beginning University in the US. – Photo shared with CNN by student<\/p>\n

Delaying education for 3 years<\/p>\n

Breaking the news to the Palestinian student that they would no longer be able to travel to the US anytime soon after they had finally found a source of hope, was a heavy burden for the activists who were supporting them through the application and visa process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very difficult conversation,\u201d said Juliette Majid, the founder of Student Justice Network (SJN), adding that the new blanket refusal policy dramatically complicates their situations.<\/p>\n

Dozens of Palestinian students worked with SJN, a pro-Palestinian student group, which has helped them to navigate the complicated logistics of applying to and pursuing an American education while the war continues.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has not provided any direct information to the students about the new visa policy, or the rationale for enacting it.<\/p>\n

The sweeping new policy was communicated to US diplomats in an August cable from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ordering all embassies and consulates to refuse nonimmigrant visas to \u201call otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders\u201d who are using that passport to apply for a visa. The posts were instructed to do so immediately.<\/p>\n

A State Department spokesperson said that \u201cevery visa decision is a national security decision,\u201d without expanding on the rationale for the new policy.<\/p>\n

Preventing the students who had been accepted to US universities from traveling take up the places they had worked so hard to earn has meant a loss of three years of education for most students. The last time most of them were in school was during the fall of 2023, and now they are looking elsewhere in the world to find opportunities for the fall of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey essentially have to restart the entire university application system from scratch,\u201d Majid said. \u201cThese are people who have been trying to finish their education under bombardment, under mass displacement, and it\u2019s absolutely cowardly and disappointing of the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 22-year-old Palestinian student planned to be in the US this month, preparing her dorm room ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":240878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[128730,21077,3499,50,22945,128732,128731,6214,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-240877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-american-university","9":"tag-gaza-city","10":"tag-internet-access","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-palestinian-authority","13":"tag-palestinian-authority-passport","14":"tag-palestinian-student","15":"tag-students","16":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115235381881820092","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}