Saif

Saif came to Britain in the year 2000 from Kurdistan.
His life was threatened. He is a university graduate and was involved in research analysing blood. Saif would like to live in his own country where he could continue to study. But he considers England a safe place to be.
Having paid $5,000 to come here he travelled in a lorry from Turkey to Dover.
"The police caught me but treated me good," he says.
Saif was kept in prison for a short while but then was sent to Ashford Camp for two to three weeks. He was fed well and the accommodation was comfortable. Then he was sent to Edgbaston, Birmingham to a hostel for Kurds and Afganistans and given £10 per week and free food. After six months he was given accommodation by NASS and lived in a house for 3 years with four other men in Handsworth. Gradually he made contact with other Kurds and got work in a food factory.
Saif would like to study medicine and went to Sheffield to do so but it cost £12,000 and he couldn't afford this so had to give up the idea.
He has been waiting for seven years for one letter from the Home Office to give him leave to stay here. The waiting causes mental and emotional stress and much fear and anxiety. He lives in great fear of being sent back to Iraq, where he is convinced he would be killed.
Saif works illegally in a food factory. He pays his Tax and National Insurance and receives £5.75 per hour. His working conditions are good and his employer is sympathetic. He would like to be able to save money for education but does not earn enough to do so.
Being illegal, Saif feels very insecure. If he witnessed a crime he would be in fear of contacting the police. However if he were personally attacked he would probably risk speaking to them. At present he is living in shared accommodation with other Kurds.
He dreams of having his own place. He has moved seven times in six years to get cheaper, cleaner accommodation. For three weeks he had to wait to get the gas boiler repaired and had no gas with which to cook.
Saif has no passport and has never considered getting a false passport.
The three hardest things about being an irregular migrant are: waiting for seven years and not receiving an answer from the Home Office; fear of new regulations from the Home Office re Iraqian refugees; not being able to live a normal life or to study like everybody else.
The Home Office have sent other Kurds back to Iraq and they have been killed. Saif wants to live and to study medicine so as to enable others to live also.

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