No Borders for Education
Statement on the Condition of International Students at HÍ
For years, international students at the University of Iceland have endured intolerable conditions, despite the heavy financial, emotional, and intellectual investments they make to study here. Around 2,000 international students contribute to the life of the university, yet their presence is systematically undermined.
“I applied for my residence permit on 19th May, completed my interview on 28th July, and responded to all follow-up queries by 13th August, within two days of UTL’s final query on 11th August. My academic future is at further risk”
The Directorate of Immigration (UTL) has long acted as an obstacle, but the situation this year has escalated into a crisis. Some students are stranded in Iceland, unable to begin their studies. They pay for expensive English tests, registration and application fees, and housing deposits, only to have their residence permit approvals withheld and their futures suspended.
“We submitted the documents of my spouse and children along with mine. They gave me the permit but not to my babies ... My 10 months old is still breastfed and he is now away from me”
In some cases, departments refuse to issue the letters UTL requires, leaving students suspended in bureaucratic limbo. Worse still, certain department heads have failed to provide even the most basic institutional support. International students are right to feel scammed, victims of systematic neglect. We believe this is no accident, but part of a wider government strategy: yet another attempt to curtail so-called “undesirable” migration to Iceland.
“I have invested greatly into this academic pursuit, paying the residence permit application fee twice due to processing issues, securing accommodation, booking flights, arranging insurance, and making other substantial personal and financial commitments. Beyond the financial aspect, I have also dedicated my time, energy, and emotions to preparing for this opportunity at your esteemed institution. To lose everything because of delays outside my control would be a devastating setback”
The ideological groundwork is already being laid. Conservative media outlets are shifting blame away from UTL and HÍ, and onto students themselves (in the last 48 hours!):
MBL frames the rise in international students as the fault of TikTokers and influencers, trivializing the reality of bureaucratic obstruction and an indifferent university, while portraying students as opportunistic outsiders rather than victims of a hostile immigration regime.
Vísir amplifies stories of chaos in student dormitories, broken locks, stolen food, mattresses in basements, urine on floors, painting a picture of disorder implicitly tied to student life, while shifting blame away from FS management and onto students, as if these long-standing problems had anything to do with them.
Logi Einarsson, Minister of Culture, Innovation, and Higher Education, has proposed raising registration fees in public universities to 100,000 ISK. Currently set at 75,000 ISK. This move will disproportionately burden students, particularly international and prospective students, at precisely the moment when media discourse already seeks to portray them as the problem, instead of understanding their situation as they navigate an increasingly hostile educational and immigration system.
Silla Bara: the new rector, who leveraged the Palestine boycott movement to secure her election with the backing of a powerful behind-the-scenes campaign of scholars, has so far proven unable to deliver on her promises.
In response, she has now unveiled what can only be described as a “damage control squad” to address issues faced by international students on campus. The problem is that, according to the article itself: “The project received funding in 2024 from the University Cooperation Fund, a fund under the Ministry of Higher Education intended to support increased collaboration between universities in the country. The University of Iceland leads the collaboration between public universities in the project, which aims to increase participation and equalize opportunities for immigrants and students with a foreign background in higher education”. In other words, this so-called initiative is not new at all—it has already been operating for a year on government benefits, under the banner of “supporting international students”.
Worse still, this “damage control squad” is the same one established back in 2024, tasked not with confronting abuse, harassment, discrimination, or inequality on campus, but with smoothing them over and making such cases quietly disappear.
These narratives prepare the public to accept the idea that international students are a burden on housing, security, and the social order. Meanwhile, the real failures of UTL and of student housing, privatized under FS, subsidized by the state, and seasonally transformed into Airbnb rentals, are portrayed as the inevitable result of “too many” international students.
We reject these narratives.
“I applied to renew my student residence permit last year in the allotted time frame. UTL originally asked questions regarding my ECTS, as I had to retake a class, something I was assured was not a problem. UTL then did not send ANY decision until almost a year later, two weeks before I was to graduate with a masters degree. They said that because I did not have enough ECTS credits at the time of renewal they were not going to renew it. In the time it took them, I had graduated with more than enough credits. I have been fighting with them ever since to show their decision is redundant due to how long it took them”
The responsibility lies with UTL, which manufactures delays and barriers to exclude.
The responsibility lies with HÍ leadership, which washes its hands of accountability while benefiting from international students’ presence and fees.
The responsibility lies with FS, neglecting its obligations to provide safe and dignified living conditions.
The responsibility also lies with Röskva and Vaka, which, instead of serving as instruments of genuine student activism and civil engagement, are hubs for opportunists to groom future ‘political’ leaders, more concerned with parking fees than with dignity, equality, justice, and the full inclusion of all students at the university.
Ultimately, the responsibility also falls on the many diversity, equality, and immigration scholars at HÍ who have built their professions on the adversities of others, yet remain conspicuously absent when their presence, "expert" knowledge and influence in Icelandic society is most needed.
We, No Borders for Education, stand with international students at HÍ. We will not allow this situation to be depoliticized or the blame shifted onto students. Together, we can confront the institutions that feed on precarity and demand recognition as equal members of the university community.
