Ireland<\/a> in 2022 on a student visa to pursue an M.Phil (Master of Philosophy) in literature at Trinity College Dublin. She had a job on campus during her studies advising prospective and current students. After graduating she obtained a visa that let her stay and work for two years through the Third Level Graduate Scheme and continued working at Trinity with international exchange students.<\/p>\nShe moved to another job in Trinity and applied to the department of justice to extend her visa, pending confirmation of a new one, but a delay in processing the application led to Malik losing that job in February and entering legal limbo. The department told her she had no right to work while the application was being processed.<\/p>\n
She submitted additional information to bolster her case and, while awaiting a ruling, subsisted on savings and channelled her anxiety at open mic comedy nights. Malik had dabbled in comedy at Trinity but never previously performed around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour best material comes when your life is falling apart. But the first time I was so scared. I was reading bits from my phone. It wasn\u2019t landing very well, I didn\u2019t know where to pause. But I got a lot of good feedback. All the comedians were absolutely lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaishree Malik performing a comedy set at the Cheeky Monkey comedy club in the basement of the International bar, Ireland.<\/p>\n
Malik refined her act and incorporated her exasperation when the department of public works offered a job that she could not accept because of the visa imbroglio. \u201cIt\u2019s so absurd. I\u2019m being offered a job by the government that I can\u2019t take because of the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some audiences think she is playing a character, she said. \u201cThey come up to me and say, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s so funny\u2019. Then I explain and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh wait, it\u2019s actually real?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivana Bacik, a legislator and leader of the Labour party, said Malik\u2019s case reflected a hardening of immigration policy. \u201cIt\u2019s impacting on lots of people and indeed lots of employers because they\u2019re losing good people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department of justice was using \u201cspurious reasons\u201d to deny visas to Gaza students, said Bacik. \u201cI believe there\u2019s much more compassion and warmth towards inward migration among Irish communities and it\u2019s not reflected in the ministry\u2019s approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaishree Malik on Grafton Street in Dublin. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
A group that represents the Gaza students said the \u201cbreakdown\u201d started this summer. \u201cWe were refused for documents we were never asked to provide, such as a bank statement and proof of intention to return,\u201d it said in an emailed statement. \u201cWe were then told to appeal with original documents by post, and as you know, Gaza is destroyed and there is no postal service.\u201d The students have taken test cases to Ireland\u2019s high court.<\/p>\n
A department of justice spokesperson said he could not comment on the court cases but that screening and verification were integral to the immigration system and that there had been no change in policy towards Palestinian students. \u201cEach visa application is assessed on its own merits.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Malik, the battle to remain in Ireland ended with the deportation letter sent on 5 October. She will leave next month but continue performing until the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very angry but when I get up on stage and I make people laugh, it sort of disarms the anger and the political stuff. If I can go up there and make you laugh about something so powerful it makes it less powerful and it becomes the joke. That is the jester\u2019s privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland is not immune to xenophobia and racism<\/a> but audiences have been supportive, said Malik. \u201cI\u2019m talking about visas, yes, but under this I am still a person. I\u2019ve made a lot of Irish friends who are basically family and they\u2019re all outraged on my behalf.\u201d<\/p>\nShe has not fully absorbed the fact she must leave, she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll hit me until I\u2019m on the plane.\u201d She is bracing for \u201creverse culture shock\u201d once back in India.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Malik is preparing to shed her possessions, close her bank account and pack before heading in the early hours of 14 November to Dublin airport. \u201cMy flatmate drives and she\u2019s offered to take me even though it\u2019s a very inconvenient time. That\u2019s a very good flatmate. Shout out to the flatmate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaishree Malik, a former event organiser at Trinity College Dublin, has lost a year-long fight with Ireland\u2019s Department…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-664929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}