William
William has done well. Since he left his native Colombia five years ago, arriving
in the UK with what he calls a fake transit visa, the 25-year-old has been many
things: a cleaner in a hotel, a barista in a coffee chain, and is now a manager
in a well-known restaurant.
“I never stopped working since I came here,” he says in good, if
accented, English. “I came here because of a dream: to give my mother a
big house and to make something of myself.”
Through sheer hard work and diligence, he has realised that dream. Mama back
in Colombia now has a house: something respectable, unlike the one-roomed shack
William was brought up in after his father left home.
William doesn’t like the idea of people who can work living on benefits.
He thinks Italians and Spaniards are “very lazy”.
“There was this Italian guy I lived with,” he says. “He’s
a dopehead, smokes marijuana. One day he says he’s going to take a break
from working, and he goes on benefit and spends his time smoking marijuana. I
was really shocked by that, you know? If you are lucky to be in a country where
you can work and earn, how can you live off others?” It’s “not
fair” on tax payers, he says.
William should know: he pays £350 a month in taxes. He has paid taxes and
NI contributions ever since he arrived here.
“I wish I could ask the Government: why don’t you try to make things
more just? Give benefits to those who really need them, not to some young Italian
guy who just wants to smoke dope.”
William shakes his head in incomprehension. He sounds very English, complaining
about people who abuse the system, and praising graft and hard work.
In fact, if you didn’t know better, you would assume William was living
here legally. In fact he has a Spaniard’s identity, and his national insurance
number, which a few years ago he bought for £400. And he has that Spaniard’s
name, Pedro.
But he’s tired of living under someone else’s name.
“You know recently I said to my boss: please, can you call me William?
I prefer to be called William. He said: ‘why do you want to be called William?
Your name is Pedro.’ I said I just preferred to be called William. So now
he does, and that feels better. At least I get called by my real name.”
The hardest thing about being irregular is not being able to travel. It is very
hard seeing EasyJet flights to European destinations he has never seen and cannot
see as long as he chooses to remain in England. And not being able to travel
means being unable to see his family. He hasn’t seen his family in six
years.
And then there is the difficulty that he cannot be registered with a GP. If he
gets ill, he has go to A & E where no one asks questions.
He has not been exploited by English people here, only by foreigners. When he
worked as a cleaner. He was paid the minimum wage. He has always been happy with
what he has earned. And from the beginning he has wanted to get on in life, go
to university, make something of himself.
He won’t go back. Three of his cousins have been killed in Colombia in
political violence. That means William is vulnerable too, if he goes back. But
why should he go back? He has made a new life in England, has a job and friends
here. He loves England.
But he keeps to himself, because he is afraid of drawing attention to himself.
He leads a furtive life, working hard but not going out too much.
He dreams of being a citizen one day.
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