No foreign student shall be registered or admitted unless they hold a valid residence permit covering the entire 2026–2027 academic year.
Ahmed Masoud, Director-General of Libya's National Examinations Centre
Thousands of Sudanese refugee families in Libya are facing growing uncertainty over their children’s education following a decision issued on 24 June by the National Examinations Centre at the Ministry of Education under Libya’s Government of National Unity in Tripoli. The directive bars the enrolment of any foreign student who does not hold a valid residence permit for the 2026–2027 academic year.
The measure reinforces an earlier circular issued in September 2025 regulating the admission of non-Libyan students during the 2025–2026 academic year. That circular stipulated that “no pupil or student shall be permitted to study during the 2025–2026 academic year unless it is verified that they hold a valid legal residence permit in Libya for no less than one year.” It also granted a temporary three-month grace period for students to submit their residence permits, provided they signed a notarized written undertaking before enrolment.
Whereas previous regulations exempted Palestinian nationals, this year’s directive adopts broad and unequivocal language that allows no exceptions and warns officials who violate its provisions of legal accountability. The move further constrains recently arrived refugee families, many of whom continue to face lengthy delays in immigration procedures and administrative processing.
Libya’s education sector has witnessed a succession of regulatory measures over the past year. In October 2025, the Minister of Education issued a decision prohibiting the enrolment of non-Libyan students in both basic and secondary education unless they had completed their previous years of study in Libyan schools. Exceptions were made only for the children of diplomatic personnel and individuals employed under contracts with international organizations operating in Libya. In December 2025, however, the Council of Ministers exempted the 2025–2026 academic year from implementing that decision.
Decision No. 696, issued by the Centre’s Director-General, Ahmed Masoud, instructs all public and private educational institutions to implement the measure immediately. It prohibits the registration or admission of any foreign student unless they possess “a valid residence permit for a full year covering the entire period from the beginning to the end of the 2026–2027 academic year.”
The decision safeguarded the right to education for children and students whose numbers had risen sharply amid successive waves of displacement.
Sudanese Embassy in Tripoli
Later that same month, the Government of National Unity in Tripoli announced, “in the public interest,” that Sudanese students would be exempt from the requirement to obtain residence permits during the 2025–2026 academic year. The decision served as a vital humanitarian reprieve, introducing flexible administrative arrangements that enabled thousands of Sudanese students fleeing the armed conflict to continue their education in Libyan schools and universities without bureaucratic impediments.
At the time, the Sudanese Embassy in Tripoli welcomed the measure in an official statement, expressing its profound appreciation to the Libyan authorities for the support and facilities extended to Sudanese families and students who had sought refuge in Libya following the outbreak of the armed conflict. The embassy noted that the decision safeguarded the right to education for children and students whose numbers had risen sharply amid successive waves of displacement.
The new circular governing the 2026–2027 academic year, issued last week, represents a stark reversal of those exceptional accommodations. Unlike last year’s decision, it contains no exemptions for Sudanese students, limiting exceptions solely to the children of Libyan mothers.
The abrupt policy shift—and the accompanying warning that officials who fail to enforce it may face legal consequences—has reignited humanitarian concerns among thousands of Sudanese families. Calls are mounting for the renewal of previous agreements and understandings that took into account the exceptional circumstances of the Sudanese community, many of whom remain unable to secure long-term residence permits.
The new education restrictions come amid a broader series of ministerial and administrative measures in Libya, including bans on the enrolment of newly arrived foreign students and the suspension of licences for private schools serving the Sudanese community. Despite ongoing humanitarian initiatives, the convergence of stricter residency requirements and official regulations has placed the educational future of thousands of Sudanese students in jeopardy pending a diplomatic resolution.
According to estimates by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sudanese nationals constitute the largest refugee population registered with the agency in Libya, accounting for approximately 82 per cent of all registered refugees. UNHCR estimates that around 559,920 Sudanese refugees have entered Libya since the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023. Of these, 91,494 are formally registered with UNHCR’s registration centre in Tripoli. The principal Sudanese refugee communities are concentrated in Al Kufra, Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Tripoli, and Misrata.
On 4 June, the Libyan capital, Tripoli, witnessed the largest demonstrations to date in a series of protests against migrants, fuelled by allegations of plans to permanently resettle them in Libya. Protesters gathered outside the headquarters of both the UNHCR and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The following day, demonstrators blocked access to both compounds.
The protests were followed by an unprecedented wave of security operations targeting foreign workers and undocumented migrants, with authorities launching extensive campaigns to arrest and deport those found to be residing irregularly in the country.
At the same time, social media campaigns called for a boycott of foreign labour and urged that migrants be removed from residential neighbourhoods and workplaces. Some activists appealed to landlords not to rent properties to migrants and encouraged employers and businesses to refrain from hiring or trading with them. Online platforms were flooded with posts under the hashtag #No_to_Resettlement demanding tighter border controls, stricter monitoring of foreigners, and the deportation of irregular migrants.
These developments have had a direct impact on Sudanese refugees in Libya, who now face what many regard as the most precarious moment since large-scale displacement to the country began in the aftermath of Sudan’s 15 April 2023 war.
The security campaigns and administrative measures—implemented simultaneously by the authorities in both Tripoli and Benghazi under the banner of “opposing resettlement”—have translated into widespread raids and arrests affecting hundreds of migrants across Libyan cities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Unity initiated the campaign on 1 June, reaffirming Libya’s rejection of migrant resettlement and declaring its commitment to what it described as “national constants in confronting this phenomenon.” In an official statement, the ministry also affirmed “the citizen’s right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Constitutional Declaration and the laws in force.”
In a rare display of policy convergence, the authorities in eastern Libya—where the Libyan National Army and the eastern-based government exercise control—adopted a position closely aligned with that of the Tripoli government. Saddam Haftar, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, issued strict directives to security agencies across eastern and southern Libya ordering them to end the unlawful presence of irregular migrants on Libyan territory.
Haftar said he had personally overseen the campaign “to preserve public security and safeguard the safety of citizens.”
“The decision safeguarded the right to education for children and students whose numbers had risen sharply amid successive waves of displacement.”- Sudanese Embassy in Tripoli.
