(UNITED KINGDOM) The UK government has lifted its ban on dependants for Palestinian students from Gaza holding fully funded scholarships, allowing partners and children to join them in Britain after months of lobbying by scholars, MPs and aid groups. The policy change, announced on 29 October 2025, applies to Gazans with verifiable scholarships for academic courses beginning no later than 31 December 2025, and forms part of the UK’s expanded aid and education response to the war in Gaza.
Ministers said the shift responds to students who secured places at UK universities but faced an impossible choice between furthering their studies and staying with their families amid bombardment and blocked borders. A UK government spokesperson said:
“Students coming from Gaza to the UK have suffered an appalling ordeal after two years of conflict,”
stressing that keeping education pathways open was a key part of recovery and rebuilding. Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pledging to try to support students and their dependants to exit Gaza, though timelines remain uncertain and movement “cannot be guaranteed” because of the volatile security situation and tight border controls.
The change reverses a previous prohibition on dependants for this group and was confirmed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy as the government widened its Gaza support package. Education and foreign policy officials framed the move as both a humanitarian step and a practical measure to ensure scholars from Gaza can take up the places they earned without being separated from their families for months or years. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“The conflict in Gaza has had an appalling impact on education… students in Gaza have shown incredible resilience and unwavering determination to pursue their studies against an appalling backdrop of death, destruction and famine.”
Education Secretary Bridget Philipson added:
“These students have lived through an appalling ordeal, with many losing loved ones and having their studies torn apart by the devastating impact of war. I am relieved that we have been able to help them reach the UK and take up their places at our universities, where they can continue their education in safety.”
Under the new rules, only partners or spouses and children under 18 qualify as dependants, as defined in the UK Immigration Rules. Each dependant must show proof of funds to cover living costs—£6,120 for studies outside London or £7,605 for studies in London—and, like the main student applicant, must submit their own visa application and pay the associated fees. The government has not waived those charges but said scholarship status will be verified and applications expedited where possible, including for schemes such as Chevening, which is funded by the FCDO. The Home Office will still apply standard checks, and officials said decisions will reflect the specific risks and constraints of moving people out of Gaza.
The practical challenge remains getting families to a safe exit point. The UK says its diplomats will work with international partners to facilitate movement when routes open but gave no guarantees given intermittent closures and restrictions at Gaza’s borders. That uncertainty has haunted scholars trying to meet university start dates and scholarship conditions. Dr. Nora Parr, a Birmingham-based researcher who has helped coordinate student support, said she was “devastated” for those who lost “hard-earned places” because they could not cross out in time or replace documents destroyed in strikes. Campaigners said the new policy comes too late for some and called for continued flexibility on start dates and funding release so that remaining students and their dependants are not forced to abandon offers.
PhD candidate Manar al-Houbi described how the original ban on dependants made it “impossible” to leave her three children and husband behind. After months of delay and repeated attempts to secure safe passage, she said she now expects to evacuate “very soon” under the revised rules. Her case mirrors what many Palestinian students report: admissions secured after years of work, repeatedly deferred while they waited for an exit window, and then complicated further by a ban that cut them off from standard family reunification routes. Student advocates argue that lifting the restriction reduces the risk of students having to choose between education and caregiving in a war zone.
The government’s shift follows mounting public pressure and cross-party appeals in Parliament as the situation in Gaza worsened. MPs relayed stories of students who could not travel without their children, and of families split across borders for months while places at UK universities expired. Ministers referenced the UK’s broader Gaza policy, which includes £101 million ($135 million) in aid for 2025/26 to the West Bank and Gaza, with £34 million ($45 million) earmarked for UNRWA. The allowances for dependants, officials said, are a small but concrete way to support education continuity for Gazans during the conflict and to reduce the long-term impact on academic careers.
At least 75 Gazan students have reached the UK since evacuations began in September 2025, including 17 who arrived on 28 October 2025 after one of the most difficult passages yet, according to people involved in the effort. But the gains sit alongside painful setbacks. Six master’s candidates in Glasgow missed their programme deadlines and remain in limbo, their places gone and future plans unclear. Advocates said these cases underline why the family policy needed to change earlier and why visa teams should show maximum flexibility when students are delayed by circumstances far beyond their control.
Eligibility remains tightly drawn. The new rules apply only to Palestinian students from Gaza on fully funded, verifiable scholarships—examples include Chevening—and only for courses starting by 31 December 2025. Students outside that window or without full funding are not covered, and dependants must meet the usual definition of partner/spouse or child under 18. Officials stressed that while the FCDO will try to help with exit arrangements, it does not control the crossing points and cannot provide a definitive timeline. In practice, students and their dependants will likely move in staggered groups as corridors open and close, with visa decisions running alongside efforts to get names cleared for transit.
The Home Office has also tightened wider entry rules for Palestinians this autumn. The UK recognized the state of Palestine in September 2025 and updated its visa nationals list to require all Palestinian nationals to obtain a visa before traveling to Britain, effective 11 November 2025. That change, while separate from the scholarship route, has implications for travel planning and means even short visits now require advance permission. Government guidance for student family members sets out the conditions for joining or accompanying a student in the UK and the funds required; applicants can check the latest rules on the UK guidance for Student visa family members.
The financial requirement may still pose a barrier for families displaced or impoverished by the war. Applicants must prove access to £6,120 per dependant outside London or £7,605 in London to cover living costs, in addition to tuition and maintenance covered by the scholarship. Universities and donors are exploring whether hardship funds can fill gaps for dependants, and whether scholarship rules can be interpreted flexibly to count family support as part of a student’s overall maintenance. For now, students say the presence of a partner can make study realistic in a new city, with childcare responsibilities shared and mental health strengthened by family stability after trauma.
The UK government spokesperson’s statement,
“Students coming from Gaza to the UK have suffered an appalling ordeal after two years of conflict,”
was echoed by academics who described chaotic journeys, weeks of waiting at crowded checkpoints, and repeated calls in the middle of the night to be ready to move. Volunteers assembled travel packs and temporary housing offers while fielding questions about visas, birth certificates, and destroyed passports. “Devastated” was the word used by Dr. Nora Parr for those who watched their places disappear as deadlines passed, especially students who had already booked flights or sold belongings in anticipation of travel windows that suddenly closed.
For many Palestinian students, the gap between a policy announcement and an actual boarding pass remains wide. The case-by-case visa process means dependants must submit applications and pay fees separately, and processing times can extend if documents need verification or if biometric appointments are delayed by security measures. Still, the removal of the blanket ban is widely viewed as decisive. It means that when a path opens out of Gaza, a family can move together under one plan instead of splitting up in the hope they can reunite months later. Manar al-Houbi’s expectation that her evacuation will happen “very soon” captures that shift from anxiety to preparation, even as risks remain.
Universities in Britain have worked to flex intake dates and suspend penalties for late arrival where possible, particularly for scholars coming through prestigious schemes. Admissions teams have had to weigh academic calendars against the realities of war: a classroom place may exist on paper, but the student might still be waiting for a border to open, or for a child’s exit permission to be stamped. The six master’s candidates in Glasgow who missed their entry dates highlight the fragility of these timelines. Without extensions, some students must reapply next year, find new funding, and attempt the journey again.
Ministers have framed the dependant policy as part of a broader effort to sustain Gaza’s education pipeline. Yvette Cooper’s acknowledgment of “an appalling backdrop of death, destruction and famine” and Bridget Philipson’s description of students who have had “their studies torn apart” were meant to convey a commitment to keeping academic options alive when so many other structures have collapsed. While some campaigners want the government to go further—such as waiving certain fees for dependants—the immediate priority remains extracting people safely and processing visas quickly.
The numbers involved are still modest. At least 75 Gazan students are now in the UK, a fraction of those who applied. But for those who made it, the ability to reunite with partners and children is transformative. Students say it will allow them to settle, register with GPs, and focus on their research or coursework rather than spending nights on video calls with families in danger. For parents, having children close by means finding schools, routines, and support services after months of upheaval. University welfare teams report high demand for counseling and housing assistance, and say family presence often stabilizes students who have endured extreme stress.
Officials caution that conditions on the ground will determine how quickly the new rules translate into reunited families. Crossings open for hours at a time, and lists of permitted names are tightly controlled. The FCDO’s commitment to “try to support” exits is not a promise it can control the outcome, and students are told to prepare for last-minute departures when the opportunity arises. Even so, the shift answers one of the most consistent demands made by Palestinian students and their advocates: treat them as scholars with families, not as isolated individuals expected to study thousands of miles from loved ones amid war.
For now, the message from government and universities is to hold onto places wherever possible, keep paperwork ready, and be prepared to move quickly when safe routes appear. The scholarship condition that courses begin by 31 December 2025 sets a clear horizon, but the reality of Gaza’s borders may yet force more deferrals. Those pushing for the change say the policy, once implemented at scale, will prevent new cohorts from facing the same dilemma next year. Whether that happens depends on the same forces that have shaped this entire effort: a war that has shut crossings, separated families, and turned an academic journey into a test of endurance.
In the meantime, the stated aim remains simple. As the UK government spokesperson put it,
“Students coming from Gaza to the UK have suffered an appalling ordeal after two years of conflict.”
By allowing dependants to come, ministers hope to make study in Britain feasible for Palestinian students whose lives and degrees were torn apart by the war—and to ensure that when the chance to rebuild finally comes, a generation of scholars will not have been lost to the chaos.
This Article in a Nutshell
On 29 October 2025 the UK lifted a ban allowing partners and children under 18 to join Gazan students holding fully funded, verifiable scholarships for courses beginning by 31 December 2025. Dependants must meet UK Immigration Rules and show maintenance funds (£6,120 outside London, £7,605 in London); each applicant submits separate visa applications and fees. The FCDO will try to support exits from Gaza but warned movement and timelines are uncertain due to border closures and security. At least 75 Gazan students have arrived since September 2025; advocates call for flexibility on start dates and fees.
