Asylum seeker with pregnant wife living in Croydon hotel ‘never been told’ how long he will stay there
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
A couple from Pakistan who face religious persecution in their own country have said that it is ‘really hard to survive’ in a Croydon hotel where they are being housed indefinitely.
The 32-year-old came to England from Pakistan with his pregnant wife, 28, in search of a better life.
The man, who asked not to be named, arrived in London in October on a student visa where claimed asylum on arrival at the airport.
As an Ahmadiyya Muslim, he is part of a religious minority that faces persecution in Pakistan.
He said: “Life was hell, we were afraid that anything could happen, even getting education there is very difficult.
“We are the main target we are not allowed to call ourselves Muslim, they can kill you because of their interpretation of the religious teachings.”
Now he has made it England, he is hopeful for a safer future for his unborn child.
He said: “I know it would be a really, really difficult part of my life, we are looking forward to a good part. At least I am not afraid to die.
“I’m hoping that my kid won’t have that fear I had when I was going to school and college, I was always afraid.”
Residents of the hotel are given a room, which can be shared with strangers, and three meals a day.
For the year ending March 2021, there were 12,968 decisions made on asylum applications of which 48 per cent were granted.
The 32-year-old said: “One of the things [about the process] is there is no proper communication from Home Office to the accommodation provider at all.
“No one knows what is happening with their claim. I’ve never been told how long I will be here. They said they can’t give us any time line.”
Back home he was a finance manager and his wife worked as a teacher, but he says she was pushed out of the job due to her religious beliefs.
Another concern among the residents is coronavirus.
He added: “My wife is pregnant and for food and everything we have to go out of our room.
“I know there were two cases of Covid who were moved, so I worry about my wife being pregnant. We try not to go outside the room.
“It is really hard to survive in this environment but I am focussing on my kid.”
He wants to stay in London to be close to the Baitul Futuh Ahmadiyya Mosque in Morden which is the one of the largest in Western Europe, adding: “This is a place I know I will be accepted.”
If the couple’s asylum claim is successful, he has hopes of pursuing a PhD in finance and working in the sector at the same time.
The Home Office were contacted for comment.
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obvious comment .. If not happy here .. go home …..
I have read this asylum seeker’s story. My question to you is whether a follower of Christian faith would tolerate blasphemy against Holy Jesus Christ? the answer is Not at all. The kind of similar thing is committed by Ahmediya religion community against Muhammad in Pakistan. They challenge the basic theory of Muhammad, and then they claim that they have been punished. However, to some extent it is admissible that there have been instances of fights with other communities relating to faith issues but they are not as horrible as they are described.
This person applied for a UK student visa at the British Embassy in Pakistan, upon arrival he changes his claim to Asylum on the immigration counter. This is perjury itself with British immigration law at the time when his was applying for a student visa whilst in Pakistan, together with his wife as it was already understood that he was going to apply for asylum upon arrival in UK. If this individual really had a threat to his life, he should have presented the proofs of his harassment which requires a lot of legal documents to support his claim to the British Consulate in Pakistan.
A vast majority of Ahmediya community from Pakistan uses this excellent excuse to claim asylum in UK, and almost all are successful upon pressure from head leader of their community who himself has sought asylum in UK. A lot of them use made up documents and scenarios, using police investigation report unrelated to religion, or other lame excuses to build up their case. Such cases carry for years whilst these to-be-asylum seekers live upon tax payers money until the cases are solved in their favour. Upon settlement, they further ‘sponsor’ their whole relatives as students or visitors and apply for asylum upon touching UK mainland. In Pakistan, they are running businesses, many of them serving in army, and at higher government posts, and even have appointed representation within the Pakistan parliament as a religious minority together with christian and Hindu representative.
All together, this Ahmediya community has rather blemished the reputation of state of Pakistan in terms of religious tolerance.
These group are simply the asylum seeker attempting settlement in UK via asylum just like those illegal cross-channel migrants looking to join their family member in UK.
The UK’s asylum system has been instantiated with a means to provide protection to those who have real life-threatening affect in their home country. But I have to say with greatest regrets that it seems that 90% of the whole asylum seekers, both the religious and the channel-crossing via boat are actually economic migrants and probabaly low skilled individuals possing as asylum seeker as an easy route into UK.
As a result of that, the NHS, housing and benefits services are actually bypassed over tax paying UK residents and diverted in priority to these ‘so called’ asylum seekers. Yet the government claims there funds are lacking to serve local residents but it fails to describe which fund actually pays for hotel and lodging costs of these asylum seekers.
I am very upset in stating that British asylum system has been very much misused and I dont see a fruitful outcome of the incoming flush current asylum immigrants.
We need skilled migrant, we do not require asylum seekers, in fact they should not have messed up their own countries in the first place.