Asylum: 50 families a week told they can stay in Scotland

FIFTY asylum seekers a week are being granted leave to remain in Scotland, as part of a massive Home Office drive to clear a backlog of 400,000 files, The Scotsman can reveal.

A review of 1,100 so-called "legacy" cases has so far resulted in some 600 families being given permission to stay in the country. It is understood that by the end of the process next month, about 90 per cent of the families will be given the right to remain indefinitely.

Many of those involved are skilled workers who were from the middle classes in their home country, but were forced to leave because of persecution. A significant number are from Iraq, Iran and Eritrea.

All the cases being reviewed were initially refused asylum, but the vast majority are now being given the right to stay, partly because of the way they have integrated into their local community.

The Scottish Refugee Council last night welcomed the move and said many asylum seekers had been left in limbo, with their lives on hold awaiting a decision.

The plight of Scotland's refugees has come into sharp focus in recent years with growing concern over the number of forced removals and dawn raids, especially those involving children.

To avoid a repeat of the problems, the government last year introduced a streamlined system for dealing with the 2,000 asylum seekers who arrive in the UK each month. It set tough new deadlines for dealing with applications, and officials are now expected to reach a decision within one month of an application being lodged. However, that has triggered fears that many more cases will be mishandled, with applicants not being given enough time to gather the documents, witnesses and other evidence they may need to argue their claim.

One asylum seeker, who asked not to be named, described the moment when she was finally given permission to build a new life in Scotland.

She was relaxing at home when, at 3.50pm, on 8 October last year, her prayers were answered.

The phone call that confirmed she had been granted indefinite leave to remain in Scotland – ending seven years of anguish after fleeing her North African homeland – could not have been more timely. It was the 27th day of Ramhadan, the day that Muslims the world over pray that their dreams will come true.

Hers is among nearly 1000 asylum-seeking families that have been granted, or set to be granted, permission to stay in the country under a Home Office review that will conclude next month.

"I just shouted very loud. I was so happy, it was the best possible news," she said.

The woman was one of 1100 asylum-seeking families who have spent years living in limbo, waiting to discover their fate with many fighting in the courts for the right to remain in Scotland. As their cases rumbled on, their treatment by the authorities triggered a storm of public and political protest, as they lived with the daily fear of dawn raids and detention.

There were fears children, including many born in Scotland, would have their lives ripped apart by being taken from their homes to dangerous, alien countries. But for hundreds of these families, their future looks secure. Sally Daghlian, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, described the review as "really positive".

She said "This has been a very long and difficult time for a lot of people. You cannot overestimate the difficulties people have living in limbo, living in fear for up to seven years, unable to work, unable really to continue with their lives. That's a huge impact on their mental health.

"From our experience, the majority of asylum seekers have had very good reasons for fleeing. They have escaped conflicts, human-rights abuses. It's incredibly unjust for people in those circumstances to have to wait years and years to have an answer to their application."

She said the fact hundreds of children from asylum-seeking families had been brought up in Scotland and now regarded it as their home had resulted in the high approval rate. But many of the families granted leave to remain still faced massive challenges as they struggled to build new lives, she said.

"People have not been allowed to work in some cases for as long as seven years. They will need help to brush up on their skills, to retrain and become employable again. Many also now have to find new accommodation, and deal with seemingly basic things like registering with utility companies, which they've never had to do before, so there is still a need for a huge amount of support."

Some are also struggling to cope with a legacy of psychological torture that has only been made worse by years of constant fear and uncertainty.

Kirsty Thompson, a Glasgow solicitor who represents vulnerable women and unaccompanied children who seek asylum in the UK, many of whom are victims of trafficking, warned that the deadlines for deciding new cases threatened to return many people to persecution.

She said: "We do have concerns that very short timescales with this new model won't allow our particular clients the time to disclose the information that can be a fundamental factor in deciding their case.

"A lot of our clients, because of the nature of the persecution they've suffered, take a long time for that information to be disclosed. It takes time to build up the trust, time that this new model doesn't allow us."

The Home Office said: "We have a fair asylum system which upholds the UK's proud tradition of providing protection to those who need it.

"We welcome those who meet refugee or human-rights criteria but we will take steps to remove those who have no legal grounds to stay and who choose not to leave voluntarily."