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Asylum seekers speak of misery in Home Office hotels [1]

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Date: 2022-08 

“They call it prison or they call it hell,” said Abu*, describing the temporary accommodation he has been housed in by the UK Home Office for the past nine months. “Nobody is happy here.”

When he fled Sudan in late 2019 after a sudden military coup put his life in danger, Abu hoped to build a new life in the UK.

Instead, the 40-year-old has found himself segregated from society, living in a “separate community” of asylum seekers in a hotel in Yorkshire, with no certainty over his future.

Amenities at the hotel are basic. Abu’s small room has a bed and clothes rail, but no cupboards or a fridge. Meals are provided, but the food is “like the weather here in the UK – unpredictable”, Abu told openDemocracy over the phone. “We say, just eat, as long as it’s not dirty, just try to eat and fill your stomach, because you don’t have any other option.”

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Elif*, another asylum seeker, said that when she first arrived in the UK – scared, suffering panic attacks and unable to sleep – and was placed in a similar hotel in London, she struggled so much with the unfamiliar food that she lost 12 kilograms.

Now, almost a year later, she remains stuck in the same hotel, unable to understand why her asylum claim is taking so long. She misses her husband and two young children, who she was forced to leave behind in Turkey when she fled for her safety.

The 38-year-old finds it difficult to get by on the £8.24 that asylum seekers living in hotels receive each week. As most asylum seekers are banned from working while their asylum claims are being considered, this money is intended to cover essentials – but it fails to stretch to necessities such as phone data or clothes.

“I’m a hardworking person,” said Elif, explaining her frustration at not being able to seek employment. “I have a master’s degree, I can speak English. I want to work.”

A desire to work is common among those awaiting asylum claims. A report published this week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the British Red Cross found that many asylum seekers in the UK are being pushed into “informal work in exploitative conditions” due to “low levels of financial support and the lack of the right to work”.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/home-office-hotels-asylum-seekers-migrants-refugees-interview/

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