The Home Office has denied a PhD student’s visa application to attend their graduation ceremony at Cambridge University, Varsity can reveal.

Despite intercession by both Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner and Jesus College, the denial was confirmed in late October of this year (24/10).

Dr. Reem Abbas, who studied both an MPhil and PhD in Modern and Contemporary Literature at the University of Cambridge, described the decision, which left her unable to officially graduate in-person, as “devastating”.

She told Varsity: “It was all the more devastating to discover that this country – the one in which I lived for five years to read for my MPhil. and PhD at the University of Cambridge – would only ever see me as an alien. A high-risk. A potential asylee.”

Abbas was forced to leave Cambridge before finishing her PhD, in September 2024, faced with “pressing caring responsibilities back home,” and submitted her final thesis in November from her home in Saudi Arabia.

After sending her application in early September of this year for a short stay tourist visa to attend her graduation ceremony, Abbas received the decision by the Home Office to reject the application on the 26th September.

A spokesperson for Jesus College told Varsity: “Jesus College supported Dr Reem Abbas in her application and appeal; we share Reem’s disappointment that she could not attend her graduation in person.”

Abbas has now lost the opportunity to graduate in-person, as has officially had her degree conferred in absence. As per University policy, once a degree has been confirmed in absence it cannot be conferred in person.

While the Home Office provided multiple reasons for its decision, Abbas claims the “real reason why it was rejected” was her nationality.

She is from Yemen, but resides in Saudi Arabia and has no immediate family remaining in Yemen or ties to the country.

Abbas alleges the Home Office denied her application on the basis of being from Yemen, out of concern she may have attempted to remain in the UK following the graduation and claim asylum. She emphasised: “For all intents and purposes, Saudi is my home.”

Intervention from both Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner and Jesus College in support of her application was ultimately unsuccessful. Zeichner noted on the rejection: “I recognise that visa decisions can involve complex considerations, but it is always sad to hear of the disappointment of those affected.”

Left furious at the decision, she emphasised the various evidential documents she provided that all, in her words: “Prove that I have strong ties, obligations, and aspirations to return to and remain in Saudi”.

The rejection letter referenced that she has no family remaining in her home country, stating “I am not satisfied that your ties in your country of residence are such that they would encourage you to leave should you be granted entry into the UK.”

She mourned her inability to formally end her time at Cambridge, both to celebrate and say goodbye but also to pay heed to the city she had spent five years in.

She reflected: “I will not be able to see the people who made my life in Cambridge as beautiful and memorable as it was. I will not be able to thank my supervisors in person. I will not be able to walk along the river Cam, to feed its swans or watch its ducks waddle into water as the sun fades into early evening. I will not have the opportunity to visit the libraries in which I spent the better part of five years.”

Abbas was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, stating: “For all intents and purposes, Saudi is my home. It is where my nuclear family has lived for three generations.”

This is not the first time Abbas has experienced visa application rejections from the Home Office, which strengthened her resolve that her nationality was behind the recurring rejections.

In 2017, the Office rejected her application both for an ERASMUS exchange programme and an International Summer School in Scotland. Both times, as in this year, they gave the rationale behind this decision the concern that she may attempt to remain in the UK after the trip.

Cambridge MP, Daniel Zeichner, told Varsity: “I was very sorry to learn that Dr Reem Abbas was unable to attend her graduation ceremony at the University of Cambridge. Having completed her PhD here, I understand her deep disappointment in being unable to celebrate this achievement with her peers and supervisors.

“While I am unable to comment on the specific details of the case, I can confirm that I made representations to the Home Office on Dr Abbas’s behalf; however, the original outcome was upheld.

“I recognise that visa decisions can involve complex considerations, but it is always sad to hear of the disappointment of those affected,” he continued.

The Home Office was contacted for comment.