As Palestinian students await Canadian visas, some are welcomed by France

Several Palestinian graduate students awaiting visas to study in Canada have been accepted by France in the last two weeks, said a group of professors advocating to bring them here.

The group says dozens of students who received scholarships or admission letters from Canadian universities have been stranded as they face delays from Canada's Immigration Department.

Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk (PSSAR) says the fact that some of those students are on their way to France — or have already arrived — is a sign of the Canadian government's neglect.

"We're happy that the [students] actually got an opportunity," said Ayman Oweida, a health science professor at the Université de Sherbrooke and chair of PSSAR.

"The heartbreak is that they did not come to us, when we've really put everything we can to have them come here."

The students and professors began publicly raising alarms over the delays earlier this month.

At the time, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told CBC News it does not have the ability to conduct security clearance checks — obtaining biometric information such as photos and fingerprints — on the ground in Gaza, making it harder for Palestinians trying to enter Canada.

It also acknowledged there could be delays for students who have already left Gaza. It said visa processing times can vary based on "whether an application is complete, if IRCC has to wait for additional information, how easily IRCC can verify the information provided and the complexity of an application."

Ihab, a graduate student who just got accepted into Centrale Méditerranée, a university in Marseille, France, said in an interview his first choice was the University of Alberta.

"I applied for a visa application at the IRCC, and I am waiting a long time," he said from Marseille.

CBC News has agreed not to disclose Ihab's full name because he is worried about the safety of loved ones who remain in Gaza.

CBC News saw an admission letter from the University of Alberta accepting him into a master's program in mechanical engineering last March, as well as a message from the IRCC acknowledging his visa application from mid-April.

Ihab said he got no further communication from Immigration Canada, and applied to Méditerrannée on June 1. An admission letter shows he was accepted into the French university's biomedical engineering master's program on June 17.

His French visa was validated just weeks later, on July 10.

Ihab said French authorities helped him evacuate Gaza and conducted biometrics tests in Jordan.

"I feel the government of France makes a lot of effort," he said, by providing support to students and contacting other organizations to facilitate their arrival.

Ihab graduated with a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Al-Azhar University in Gaza City. That campus has been reduced to rubble in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The enclave no longer has any active universities.

The Israeli Defence Forces said they found weapons like rockets and explosives at Al-Azhar, accusing Hamas of using the facility to stage attacks.

Ihab said he has friends who applied to Canadian universities in early 2024, and they have yet to leave the war zone.

"They stay in Gaza, and their dreams in Gaza destroyed," he said.

CBC News saw a similar series of documents for another student, who received an offer from the University of Calgary in June 2024.

While the student was waiting for a Canadian visa, they were accepted at France's Université Grenoble Alpes in November 2024 and obtained a scholarship from France at the end of May.

The student told PSSAR they now intend to withdraw from the University of Calgary. Three other students have also informed the group of their intentions to withdraw from admissions to Canadian schools, one stating they have already been evacuated by France, and the other two saying they have been offered evacuation.

At the end of April, the French newspaper Le Monde reported some 115 Palestinians, mostly university scholarship recipients, had arrived in France.

The Immigration Department did not answer a direct question on whether or not it is consulting with France on best practices to get people out of Gaza.

It said in a statement that "as of July 8, more than 1,750 people who exited Gaza have passed security screenings," gaining approval to come to Canada. Of those, 864 have arrived.

However, advocates say these are Palestinians who found their own way out of Gaza to Egypt, with no help from the Canadian government.

IRCC noted universities make their decisions independently of the department.

"However, all prospective international students must meet the requirements of Canada's immigration system — including obtaining a letter from a designated learning institution and securing an approved study permit — before they can travel to Canada."

According to a French government website, visa applicants who live in Gaza must make their requests in Ramallah in the West Bank or Jerusalem, due to the ongoing war.

France normally employs a third-party organization, VFS Global, to help applicants in Gaza.

Oweida said he was surprised how the French government can leverage its diplomatic relationship with Israel to let Palestinians bound to France out of Gaza, in comparison to Ottawa's efforts.

"France has had a really critical standpoint against Israel's ongoing war in Gaza," he said. "Canada should be able to do what France did."