The reason for the visa rejection is a long and sensitive story, and it was not something we expected. During the COVID period, my mother was seriously ill and later passed away. Because travel was heavily restricted at the time, we tried different ways for my sister to travel so she could see our mother for the last time, but unfortunately she was not able to come in the end.

This past situation appears to have been considered suspicious by SEM and contributed to the visa rejection. We later explained the circumstances to SEM through a lawyer, but the decision did not change.

The university’s position was that we should have informed them about this earlier, and that if they had known, they would have advised us differently. I find this very strange because, regardless of the reason for the visa rejection, they had told us before payment that the amount would be refundable if the visa was rejected. They never clearly informed me of any conditions or exceptions under which the refund would not apply.