< img src= "https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a2fee0575609394862e924a959cf3d23a229bfa9/0_0_607_486/master/607.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=db6bc7ee36454d2e8bbac6723c67998a" alt= "" > In early March, with little warning, the UK announced a ban on trainee visas for 4 nations: Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Cameroon.It came as ravaging news to Afra Elmahdi( envisioned ), an exceptional trainee from Sudan. Having made it through civil war and been banished to the United Arab Emirates, she hoped to enhance her medical career in the UK. But after being provided a place at the University of Oxford– and as she was waiting to learn whether she ‘d be provided a prominent scholarship– she saw the announcement. She tells Helen Pidd of” the feeling that the ground had been pulled from my under of my feet “which” there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it”. Helen also hears from Shahira Sadat, a software engineer in Taliban-run Afghanistan, who has had her hopes of studying at University College London dashed.The Guardian’s home affairs editor, Rajeev Syal, explains the thinking, and the politics, behind the Office decision.< img alt=" Afra Elmahdi from Sudan" src=" https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a2fee0575609394862e924a959cf3d23a229bfa9/0_0_607_486/master/607.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none" width=" 445" height=" 356.2932454695222"/ > Photograph: Supplied image