Afghan Woman Refused UK Visa Three Times for Glasgow Medicine Course

A 25-year-old Afghan woman who won a place on a medicine gateway course at the University of Glasgow has been refused a UK student visa three times, each time for contradictory reasons.

The woman, who is called Sara in the report and is not using her real name, secured a place at Kabul University's medical school in February 2021. By August the Taliban had returned to power, and women lost the right to study for degrees.

She kept learning anyway. She volunteered at medical clinics in Kabul, hid in cars at Taliban checkpoints and asked friends to send her textbooks as PDFs. A head surgeon let her observe an operation after she asked a friend to teach her sutures on a banana.

A route to Glasgow

By 2024 life at home with her violent father was becoming dangerous, and he wanted her to marry. Sara left Afghanistan and the family ended up in Pakistan, where they overstayed their visa. She says police came looking for them and she once hid in a kitchen cupboard.

London-based English teacher Jane Conway, who works with a group called Save Afghan Women, found the Glasgow gateway course for female Afghan students who want to study medicine. With her help Sara secured bursaries to cover fees and living costs.

Her visa application went in days before the Home Office brought in a visa brake in March 2026 for students from Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon.

One refusal said she had appropriate funds but was not a genuine student. Another said she did not have suitable funds, while accepting she was a genuine student. Between the decisions came a phone interview of about an hour and a half about her family and background.

"I would like to ask the home secretary what is her definition of a 'genuine student?'" Sara said.

Sara is now studying accounting and finance in another country, which she has not named for safety reasons. She chose it because it costs less than medicine. "I don't have any other option," she said.

Conway criticised what she called inconsistent decision-making. "I feel a deep shame that the government is cutting off a life-changing opportunity for a truly exceptional person," she said.

On 28 September Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Labour conference she was reactivating a refugee resettlement route, naming Afghan women and girls among those who would benefit. The much larger refugee family reunion scheme has been suspended for more than a year.

Sara still hopes to qualify as a doctor. She wants to become a cardiac surgeon, and if she cannot return to Afghanistan, to work with Doctors Without Borders.

Source: The Guardian