The grant of leave to stay in the UK, whether it is refugee status,
humanitarian protection, or discretionary leave or other kind of leave, may be
greeted with joy. It is a successful outcome of what has often been a long and
trying ordeal. Unfortunately, the period following such 'success' can remain
very difficult, particularly if the person in question has been supported by the
Home Office until then.
If someone has been receiving financial support or accommodation and
support from the Home Office, this support will stop after 28 days. Section 4
support will end after 21 days.1 The Home Office will write to the individual informing them of the
date on which the support will stop and the accommodation must be vacated.
The period after support has ceased involves a bewildering number of
changes to a refugee's situation. Within this time people granted leave have to
find new accommodation and furniture, acquire National Insurance numbers, claim
benefits, attempt to find employment, register with a new GP if they have moved
to a new area, understand the mechanics of council tax and utility bills, and
support themselves and their dependants. Without assistance, people who had
adjusted to section 4 or section 95 regimes may find themselves newly
destitute.
The
government has a policy for refugee integration which applies only to
individuals or their dependants granted refugee status or humanitarian
protection under the New Asylum Model (NAM) after June 2007, but not to people
with discretionary leave. Those who are eligible can receive a refugee
integration loan that is rarely more than £1000, intended to help with expenses
such as deposits for housing, education or training costs, or work equipment.2,3
Because
of the speeding up of the asylum process, refugees who have come through the
New Asylum Model may have different needs from previous groups of people
granted leave to remain and may require greater support. They are less likely
to speak English, to be familiar with British welfare institutions, to be ready
to take on employment, or to already be getting the specialist medical treatment
that they need. Single people have particular difficulty in being designated as
'priority need' in relation to housing.
Such
people may find it harder to obtain assistance for homelessness as their
inexperience will make it more difficult for them to present as 'vulnerable'
even if their actual vulnerability is potentially greater.4
Furthermore, people with refugee
status may still be refused services to which they have full entitlement: there
have been several cases of local authorities refusing homelessness services to
anyone who does not have indefinite leave to remain. Such refusals should be
challenged immediately and referred to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission
for action on unlawful indirect race discrimination.
Whatever the limitations of the services to
people with refugee status, the situation is even more difficult for former
asylum seekers granted leave through the 'legacy' process. They are normally
granted indefinite leave to remain, but they are not included in the
government’s refugee-integration programme. However, those who have been
supported by the Home Office also face the same abrupt loss of support. Others who have
been dependent on support from family, friends and charitable donations may be
pressured to start supporting themselves, without knowledge of the system.
Whatever the nature of their leave, people frequently have difficulties in
obtaining benefits while waiting for National Insurance numbers, and may be
inappropriately denied benefits by agencies requesting unnecessary
documentation. Advocacy from specialist migrant agencies, local law centres or
other voluntary agencies is therefore often essential to assist migrants with
newly acquired rights to employment, housing and benefits to access their
entitlements.
Surveys of people living with HIV and providers
have raised a number of issues that affect asylum seekers and other migrants.
However, it is difficult to identify the specific needs of migrants recently
granted leave as such studies tend not to distinguish between different
categories of migrants. Generalist reports about recent migrants tend to focus
on factors which facilitate or act as barriers to 'integration' especially in
access to housing, employment, education and health.5 Social networks, both within
migrants’ own national and linguistic communities, as well as those between
migrants and the wider community, such as social contacts in neighbourhoods,
school and childcare activities, attending ESOL courses and places of worship,
and engaging in voluntary work, have been highlighted as helping people to move
on successfully.
There are, however, many other factors which
serve as obstacles to accessing and maintaining social networks for new migrants.
These include: poverty; restricted options in housing, employment and education
(particularly English-language classes); and the fear and experience of racism
and racial harassment.
A study of stigma and discrimination facing Africans
with HIV showed that racism combined with HIV stigma served to increase their
exclusion. Africans interviewed described being stigmatised by some healthcare
workers. Moreover, Department of Health restrictions on treating overseas
visitors inevitably also impact on others who are perfectly entitled to care
under the regulations, but who may be perceived by staff as indistinguishable
from those 'not entitled'. Similarly, some people fear that if they disclose
their HIV status to a prospective employer, they will either not get the job or
be discriminated against once employed. The effect of this was that either
individuals did not apply for jobs, or they took menial or casual jobs below
their qualifications in order to avoid disclosure.6
The same study also showed how HIV stigma
limits the support African migrants with HIV can get from networks in their own
communities:
"Because
of the hostile racist and xenophobic environment prevalent in the UK today,
they must rely on their expatriate and diasporic communities for emotional and
practical support. Without such support, many Black African people in the UK
today would find daily life unbearable and impracticable. Black African people
with HIV have great disincentives to be open about HIV in society at large, but
even more so among their own African networks because such a disclosure will
result in almost certain rejection from what is sometimes a sole source of
support. Therefore, many feel that they must keep their HIV status a secret.
The problem is that this causes severe personal stress and often means that
they cannot access social (and sometimes clinical) services."6