“The policy and rules were always there, but they were very lenient before; now things have changed suddenly”
Irish universities are set to face severe financial losses and potential budget shortfalls due to soaring international student visa refusals. This is a phenomenon hitting universities across the UK, Australia and the US.
Freedom of Information requests submitted by The College Tribune to Irish universities have revealed that a significant number of students are being forced to withdraw, cancel their place or defer due to rejections or delays, with some universities seeing more than twice as many students unable to take up their places from delays or refusals in comparison to last year.
As of 6 October, 297 University of Galway students were still awaiting their visa decisions, with the university’s teaching term beginning a month prior. Just 161 students had their visas approved by October, while 65 had them refused.
A spokesperson for TU Dublin told the College Tribune that “approximately 144 international students who had been offered places for the September/October 2026 intake were unable to take up their places due to visa refusals. A further group of students deferred their entry to January 2027 while awaiting visa decisions, with some outcomes still pending.
The estimated impact on student fee income is currently approximately €2.1 million. This figure may increase depending on the impact of visa refusals on the January 2027 intake, which typically attracts a significant number of international students.”
At Atlantic Technological University (ATU), 90 applicants for the September intake were unable to take up their places due to visa refusals, with the university estimating a lost tuition fee income of approximately €1.2 million.
The chair of University College Cork’s (UCC) Governing Authority recently told the Oireachtas committee on Further and Higher Education that the university estimated a financial hit of €3.7m due to declining international recruitment.
Technological University Shannon (TUS)’s records show an increase in the number of students awaiting decision/appeal results or receiving rejections from 108 in the last academic year to 307 this year as of the end of October, including a jump from 99 refusals to 189. RTÉ recently reported that several master’s programmes at TUS will have to be cut this year due to a sudden surge in visa refusals.
“As of the 23rd of October, Maynooth University has been notified of 94 visa refusals from students who had been accepted onto a course this autumn.
This represents a substantial increase over last year, and the actual figure is likely higher. These figures represent only reported cases and are therefore almost certainly significantly lower than the actual number, as many students have not engaged or submitted information even after paying deposits,” said a Maynooth University spokesperson. This has been the case with most universities, making it difficult to track the exact number of students withdrawing for these reasons.
Trinity College Dublin also noted an increase in the number of visa applications being denied, and at Munster Technological University, just 19 students withdrew due to visa rejections in the 2025/26 year. This number almost doubled to 37 by October for the 2026/27 year.
Irish Universities Association (IUA) Director General Paul Johnston told The College Tribune, “The significant increase in student visa refusals in 2026 is a growing concern for Irish universities.”
“International student fee income is an important source of revenue for universities, helping to support teaching, research and services for the wider student population. Visa refusals and delays are affecting international student enrolments, putting valuable tuition fee income at risk and adding to the financial pressures on an already underfunded university sector.”
Following the 2008 financial crisis, Irish universities faced significant state funding cuts. To plug these budget deficits, institutions became increasingly reliant on international students and expanded postgraduate offerings, as reflected in strategic planning documents dating back to 2010. This structural reliance was further highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when declines in foreign student enrollment led to significant funding and revenue issues.
Today, non-EU student fees constitute a critical pillar of university finances in Ireland:
In the UCD 2024/25 academic year, non-EU students represented approximately 26% of the student population but accounted for 49% of UCD’s total fee income. Trinity College Dublin is similarly situated. In the same year, non-EU students accounted for 22.7% of total student numbers while contributing 50% of overall academic fee revenue.
Certain flagship courses rely almost entirely on international cohorts. For example, UCD’s MBA program has a non-EU tuition fee of €38,860 and had an 83% international cohort in 2025/26, while the MSc in Accounting and Finance had a 98% international student composition.
Even with international fees, higher education still faces a significant funding gap, with the IUA recently estimating that the sector’s core funding deficit sits at above €250 million. The group sought €190 million in their pre-Budget 2027 submission to narrow this gap, but only an additional €10 million was allocated.
In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin this June, Junior Minister for Migration, Colm Brophy, confirmed that 64% of student visa applications by that time had been rejected. This marked a significant increase from 2025, when 39% were rejected. The question was raised in the context of the government crackdown on English Language schools. Still, the figure provided relates to all student visas in the country, with a trend of rejections extending far beyond English Language schools apparent.
Brophy told the Dáil in September that there had been “no recent change to visa processing procedures, approval criteria or documentation requirements in any of the Department’s Visa Offices”.
UCDSU Graduate Officer Anushka Baisoya told The College Tribune that the SU has been working with a significant number of students whose visas were denied. She had a different opinion.
“The policy and rules were always there, but they were very lenient before; now things have changed suddenly when they saw every country being harsh and strict; and therefore Ireland has also decided to be a lot more restrictive for students entering to study abroad.”
In addition to rejections, students are facing significant delays in receiving a decision at all, with decisions coming after the academic year has begun, leaving students uncertain about whether they would be moving to Ireland and ultimately forcing many to withdraw or defer.
A significant number of these students are seeking deferrals to later course intakes due to decision delays or planned appeals. A DCU spokesperson, who noted that the university does not collect specific data on reasons for student deferrals, said that the university had “seen a noticeable increase in the number of deferrals of offers by international students in this academic year. The vast majority of these have accepted a new place in the next admissions cycle, which opens for registration in January 2027.”
If the students deferring to later intakes do not receive positive appeal outcomes, then the financial impact on universities will surely worsen. Still, there has been no indication that this trend will reverse.
‘We have concerns about the funding issues that were always there, and now because we don’t have as many students coming to study in universities, there is gonna be a huge gap in funding. It will also result in slower rates of growth for universities as well,’ said Baisoya.
With government funding remaining constrained and visa policies tightening globally, higher education institutions face an urgent dilemma: to diversify funding streams or risk prolonged budget instability.
“Ireland needs a visa system that is robust, fair and efficient. We cannot afford barriers that discourage international students, undermine our universities and ultimately weaken Ireland’s economic competitiveness. The IUA has raised these concerns directly with Government, and they are increasingly shared by business stakeholders,” says Johnston.
The burden of this shift falls heavily on applicants from specific regions. Students from African countries, Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, and Palestine are making up a large bulk and face higher refusal rates and increasing procedural hurdles. At Maynooth, 47 Indian students had their visas rejected by October, compared with just 23 for the whole 2025/26 year. 131 Indian TUS students had their visas rejected by the end of October.
Baisoya has seen this with the UCD students she has worked with.
“It is mainly Asians and Palestinians whose visas are being rejected. A lot of them plan to study abroad in European capitals; for better education, good professors, good experience abroad.” She continued, “When we see the issues for Palestinians, what has been mentioned is their finances, paperwork, no bank documents, and lack of will to come back to their own country, but how will they get the bank documents when the banks and places have been bombed?”
Baisoya told The Tribune that she has seen students with high academic qualifications rejected, noting how many of these students are now choosing to study elsewhere. I see a lot of students from [India and Palestine] do come to study abroad, and therefore they are choosing alternatives in different Asian countries’
Universities in the UK are revoking offers en masse to international applicants from countries including Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine and India, fearing that the UK government’s visa crackdown will result in an outright ban on recruiting international students. If the number of visa rejections and delays rises and students defer, thereby holding space for future intakes, Irish universities may become more selective and restrictive in offering places to international students.
At the core of this increase in rejections are hundreds of students who were accepted into Irish universities and are now left in limbo because they cannot take their places.
“But this is about much more than university finances. International students are vital to Ireland’s economy, skills pipeline and research capacity. At a time when we are competing globally for talent, we risk damaging Ireland’s reputation as a welcoming destination for international education and research.’ finished Johnston.
By Aisling Murphy & Sophie Gliott