F or the last decade, Sara (not her real name), 25, has dreamed of becoming a doctor. She secured a highly sought after place to study medicine at Kabul University in February 2021, but in a matter of months the Taliban returned to power and imposed a ban on women studying for degrees. Sara had been searching for other options. Then the University of Glasgow offered her a lifeline.

Her visa application was made just days before the Home Office introduced a visa brake in March 2026 for students from Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar and Cameroon. Her teachers consider her to be an exceptionally able and dedicated student, she had secured funding and the university was waiting to welcome her on to a gateway course at its school of medicine, dentistry and nursing – a route to a full degree course to become a doctor. So why have the UK’s home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and her officials gone to such extraordinary lengths to bar her?

‘Challenge after challenge’ … Sara still wants a career in medicine.…