Home Office rejects Palestinian Jerusalemite woman’s UK visa but approves husband’s

The Home Office had previously refused a visa application from Therese Abdallah in 2019, but she had previously travelled to the UK for academic visits with no problems. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A Palestinian Jerusalemite who lives in London has been left devastated after a planned trip by his parents had to be cancelled when the Home Office ruled his mother was not a “genuine visitor” but granted his father a visa.

Karim Abdallah, who has lived in the UK since 2019, was looking forward to hosting his parents, Therese Abdallah, 69, a retired English teacher, and his father, Ghassan Abdallah, a psychologist, for a few weeks.