Young refugees in the UK left demoralised and jobless

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/15/young-refugees-without-job-right-to-work

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There was nothing particularly striking about the day I remember a young lad named Ali walking into my office looking like the world was on his shoulders. He held a scrunched-up piece of paper in his hand and slumped into the empty chair beside my desk, before throwing it to the floor. It was a job application form for a local supermarket, one of many that Ali Gadir, a young refugee, had obtained in the hope of gaining employment. These hopes were always short-lived and I, as his case worker, shared his frustration.

When Gadir (not his real name) arrived in England from Bangladesh via Dubai aged 11 or 12 as an unaccompanied asylum seeker, he was taken into care. I started working with him when he turned 18. For the three years I worked with him in east London (until his case closed when he reached 21), my role was to provide emotional support and help him access education, employment or training and to prepare him for a life after being in care.

Many unaccompanied young refugees face difficulties when they leave care, according to a recent report from the Children’s Society. It found that often their immigration status presents an overriding factor. The young people interviewed for the report, entitled Not just a temporary fix: durable solutions for separated migrant children, expressed feelings of being stuck in limbo, frustration, anger and anxiety. “They repeatedly talked about being unable to work leaving them feeling powerless,” say the report’s authors.

Such sentiments are echoed by Gadir. Initially awarded discretionary leave to remain until aged 17 and a half, typical for people in his situation, he was then granted further permission to stay that would expire around his 21st birthday.

The documentation that he was given to prove his status, including the right to work, was a biometrics card, which also carried the expiry date. Since refugees can only apply for further, or indefinite, leave to remain in the UK 28 days before the expiry date, their papers give the wrong impression to prospective employees that their departure is imminent.

“I recently went for a job in a butcher’s shop, I showed my biometrics card but they said without a passport, I cannot be hired,” says Gadir. “It’s very difficult to get work without proper identification. I have been told by companies, if you have six months remaining, we cannot send you to the main office, they are not going to accept it.”

Gadir’s job search could become even harder when the forthcoming immigration bill becomes law this autumn. The bill will carry penalties such as unlimited fines, the power to seize wages and the confiscation of licences for firms who employ illegal migrants. It is likely to make employers more wary of employing anyone who doesn’t have a UK passport, such as thousands of young refugees with the right to work.

A spokeswoman for the Refugee Council says: “This is indeed a problem, not just for care leavers who are refugees or who have leave to remain, but for many refugees, including those already working.”

Swaliha Bax, psychosocial case worker at the Dost Centre for Young Refugees and Migrants in east London, has experienced similar issues with her clients awaiting decisions from the Home Office. She says they would find the situation demoralising and would resort to accepting cash-in-hand work, often below the minimum wage, with anyone who would accept their documents. “I had a young person doing warehouse work when really he could be doing much better. His English was really good but they were the only ones who would accept his permission to work,” says Bax.

Figures provided by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford show that since 2006, more than 20,000 applications for asylum in the UK have been received from unaccompanied children aged under 17.

Although some will have since been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK, and others have had their application rejected and been sent back to their country of origin, thousands like Gadir will be waiting for a final decision on their application.

This leaves them in a position where they are being repeatedly turned down for employment or having their job placed in jeopardy.

It also forces individuals to remain on benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance when they are desperate to work and be financially independent. A condition of JSA is that the applicant must show evidence that they are looking for a job. This is the case even if they are being continually refused work because employers are unwilling to accept their documentation.

Speaking in the Commons last week, David Cameron said the UK would “live up to its moral responsiblity” towards refugees and allow the 20,000 Syrians the government has agreed to take to apply for asylum after five years. This is in line with the 1951 UN refugee convention.

Now aged 22, Gadir feels as he did when he first arrived in London as a young boy 12 years ago, unsettled, unsure, scared and abandoned.

He says: “I am still in a place of not knowing, it’s like I cannot move on with my life, I don’t like doing nothing or signing on and looking for jobs I know I am not going to get. I just want to work and look after myself.”