A moving human-interest story unfolding on 22 July 2026 has thrust Belgium’s student-visa policy into the spotlight. Palestinian doctor Ahmad Abu Jami, 28, won a coveted Belgian government scholarship to complete a Master of Public Health at Antwerp’s Institute of Tropical Medicine. Yet under current rules he must file his D-visa application in person at a Belgian mission—a physical impossibility in the Gaza Strip, where no Belgian consulate exists and the crossings have been largely sealed since the 2023 war. Six other Gazan scholarship holders face the same bureaucratic dead-end. Belgian universities have lobbied Prime Minister Bart De Wever to allow remote filing, pointing to the Dutch precedent where courts forced The Hague to accept emailed applications. A first Belgian court has already ruled that nothing in Belgian or EU law requires presence in person, but the foreign ministry and the new Asylum & Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt insist on keeping the face-to-face security interview. Critics argue the stance undermines Belgium’s development-co-operation goals—ironically, the federal aid budget funds the very scholarships now at risk—and damages the country’s academic brand just as universities compete globally for talent. The Institute of Tropical Medicine warns that barring Gazan doctors “will deprive Gaza’s battered health system of urgently needed expertise when the war ends.” For global-mobility managers the case illustrates how rigid visa procedures can derail fully funded assignments, even when sponsors are governments. Multinationals sending staff to Belgium should note that emergency flexibility is unlikely; security screening remains paramount. The episode also shows that court action can succeed, but timelines remain unpredictable—one student who sued still has no decision weeks later. Until a political compromise emerges, Belgian sponsors may need to arrange third--country lodging where applicants can file in person or lobby for case-by-case humanitarian exemptions. The affair is a reminder that sound mobility policy requires aligning immigration formalities with foreign-policy and development objectives. Belgium’s next steps—whether it adapts procedures or lets scholarships lapse—will signal how far the new coalition is willing to bend bedrock rules in exceptional circumstances.
Source: The Brussels Times
