University professors urge Ottawa to end delay in issuing study permits to Palestinians

In July 2024, Nada, a Palestinian student living in the Gaza Strip, was admitted as a master’s student in the transportation and environmental engineering program at the University of Calgary. She has since co-written two conference papers with her graduate supervisor, Robyn Paul, an assistant professor at the Schulich School of Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering. 

However, Nada has yet to set foot on the university’s campus because she doesn’t have the required biometrics to enter Canada, and has no way of obtaining them while stuck in Gaza.

Dr. Paul said that the 17-month delay for Nada obtaining a study permit “is unheard of” and that she doesn’t understand how Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada “has chosen to abandon” Nada and some 130 other Palestinian students in Gaza and Egypt who have been admitted to Canadian universities but have yet to receive student visas. 

“We were able to defer her admission three times now. That’s really uncommon. Sometimes students get one deferral,” said Dr. Paul about Nada, who is married with two young children and holds an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering. 

“She’s top tier in the quality and calibre of the work I’ve seen from her, which she’s doing for free while living in a war zone.” 

University Affairs agreed to use students’ first names only in this article because of safety concerns for them and their families in Gaza. 

In a statement, the IRCC said that “anyone looking to come to Canada must meet our admissibility and eligibility requirements, including biometrics and security screening.” 

“Biometrics can only be completed after people leave Gaza, as the IRCC has no presence there.” 

Thirty professors await Palestinian students 

Dr. Paul, who is one of 30 Canadian professors waiting for Palestinian students admitted to their universities, said that “it feels extremely hypocritical the way in which the [federal government] is treating Palestinian students and it feels extremely hypocritical in what it means to be a Canadian” in supporting humanitarian causes. 

In September, she was able to obtain an exception for Nada to study remotely and take a course in ethics, law and the engineering profession while she waits for her student visa.

While Nada remains in limbo, so too do about 30 other Palestinians in Cairo with their biometrics completed, Dr. Paul explained. 

“They’ve checked all the boxes that [Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship] Minister Lena Diab said you need and [the government] is still ignoring them,” said Dr. Paul, who is a member of the Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk (PSSAR) network. “There’s definitely bias in the system.”  

Biotech student accepted at Trent, stuck in Gaza 

Aaron Shafer, an associate professor of forensic science at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, who is also a member of PSSAR, has been advocating on behalf of Waseem, a 24-year-old Palestinian student in Gaza with an undergraduate degree in biotechnology who was admitted to Trent more than a year ago for master’s studies in genomics, building on his expertise in DNA. 

In October, Dr. Shafer, along with other Canadian professors awaiting Palestinian students, met with Bruce Scoffield, a director general at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), who relayed a message from Minister Diab that “there would be no special exemptions for students from Gaza,” according to Dr. Shafer. 

“We were never asking for that, but what he meant was that things are still being held up by biometrics, which is impossible if you’re in Gaza,” said Dr. Shafer, who added that it was “the worst I’ve ever felt leaving a meeting. The government made it very clear that these students were not a priority, and they weren’t going to move on it.”  

Dr. Shafer said that based on legal advice he received, the IRCC can waive the biometrics requirement, which has been the case for some Ukrainian students. 

“When we follow all the steps, we’re still being stalled,” he added, referring to the approximately 30 Palestinians in Egypt, some of whom had their biometrics completed two years ago.  

“The question is why, and we haven’t gotten an answer,” Dr. Shafer said. 

University Affairs reached out to Mr. Scoffield for comment but did not receive a reply. 

Dr. Shafer said that Waseem, with whom he is in regular contact, is “doing better than he was six months ago when he was expecting to die.” 

“He’s back in his apartment in Gaza City but he’s moved 17 times over the past 18 months,” said Dr. Shafer, who noted that he is exploring opportunities for Waseem to pursue his graduate studies in Ireland.  

He said that Waseem’s ordeal has been “very confusing by the lack of response by the Canadian government and university administrators. As a personal experience, it’s been challenging and emotional.”   

Engineering student remains hopeful of master’s at U of R  

Meanwhile, Meera, another Palestinian student who turned 26 in September and first spoke to University Affairs in July, has still been unable to leave Gaza to obtain her biometrics and get a student visa to come to Canada and pursue a master’s degree in industrial systems engineering at the University of Regina. 

On a Zoom call from Gaza City on Sunday, Meera told University Affairs that she is among about 130 Gazan students still awaiting a study permit for Canada and noted that others have been evacuated by Italy and the United Kingdom over the past two weeks. 

She remains hopeful that she can get to Canada by January to begin her studies in Regina. If not, she said she has “no other option” but to enrol as a graduate student in another country. “I’m feeling so upset about this because my dream is to go to Canada.”