Mohammed Ayub said the restriction was pointless as any knowledge in a science class was already in the public domain.
The Home Office said it was not prepared to comment on the case.
A Home Office spokesman said: "This is subject to an appeal. Until this is concluded it would be inappropriate to comment any further."
Mr Ayub said he informed the Home Office as a matter of routine when his client, who is in his early 30s, began the secondary-level courses in biology and chemistry at a college in early September.
Mr Ayub said he did not expect there to be a problem, not only because the information is freely available, but because his client had been a medical student in Iraq and would not be learning anything new.
Mr Ayub said: "You could, in fact, if you are determined, pick this up from a library and in fact even more. So we think this is a very narrow and blinkered view.
