Oxford-Bound Sudanese Medical Graduate Loses High Court Bid to Overturn UK Student Visa Ban

A medicine graduate awarded a place at the University of Oxford has failed in her legal bid to overturn the UK government’s controversial student visa ban targeting individuals from conflict-affected nations. Dr Rawan Raad is among a group of seven women who approached the High Court to challenge the “visa brake” implemented in March by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, which restricts students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan over asylum concerns.

Dr Rawan Raad holds a first-class honours degree in medicine and was forced to leave her native Sudan due to the civil war, currently residing in the UAE. She secured a place at Oxford to study international health and tropical medicine through the Africa Oxford Initiative's Mastercard Scholarship. Seeking to help rebuild Sudan’s health system, Dr Rawan Raad argued that the policy unlawfully bars qualified students from accessing higher education without individual assessments.

Other claimants affected include Dr Razan Farah and Rawan Alim from Sudan, as well as Shahira Sadat from Afghanistan. Lawyers representing the women argued that the blanket ban discriminates against women from countries where higher education access is already restricted, and challenged the use of asylum conversion statistics as arbitrary.

However, Judge Karen Steyn rejected the legal challenges, stating that the Home Secretary is not required to use immigration control to address foreign discrimination and noting that alternative discretionary routes remain available.