Curious George

[nicgentile]

I was speaking to a couple of guys. One guy is a refugee from Ethiopia, the others from Sudan.

The main issue was that this guy came here on his passport, (Ethiopian) thru a visitors visa, claimed amnesty and was granted a letter saying his refugee status had been recognized, and bam ILR in his passport soon after. All this is the span of one year six months. Never been in the UK before, now he has Indefinite Leave to remain, a business and a better lifestyle than most of us.

I always thought that when you became a refugee, you forsake the citizenship of your country. Hence, your passport of your country becomes null and void pending new documents being issued by your host country.

Sounds like you have some visa envy

Ha ha ha. No, not really. It was just a curious thing I noted. Tis all. I have my ILR too.

[stedman]

Is life better in the UK than France, Ireland, Germany, Holland etc? I do not know but someone might know.

Life is certainly better. In my (free NHS) clinic I regularly see an ex asylum seeker, now a refugee with recent ILR* (He can't get British citizenship as despite residing in the UK for 7 years he can barely speak English) He has never worked in this country, well, so he says, and neither has his wife. They have 3 children who all attend (free) state schools. This is what they get every month:

For his long term back pain from being tortured - £80/week incapacity benefit = £350/month
For his chronic disability (bad back, walks with a stick around doctors but not when out in town - one of our nurses has seen him) - mobility and care Disability Living Allowance - £320/month
His wife is his main "carer" - she gets £38/week carer's allowance = £165/month
They have 3 children all under 16 = £182/month in child benefits
Total - £1017 a month.
They live in a 3 bedroom terraced council property with a garden in an OK part of London. Their rent is paid by housing benefit. They pay no council tax.
And only God knows whether the wife works cash in hand too. He certainly does - at a kebab take away in the next borough. He claims he doesn't get paid and hangs out there for the social benefits of being with friends from his own country

He has a freedom pass which means he doesn't pay a penny for travel around London. The last time I saw them (with a very expensive interpreter, paid from my limited misc. budget) the wife asked if she could get a freedom pass too as his "carer"

Almost forgot this bit - they have recently returned from a trip to their original country. It was an emergency he said - his sister was very ill.

* some details have been changed for confidentiality reasons.

[adindas]

If they were genuine then they deserve it, (apart from cheating about additional income)

But I really, really doubt the genuity of people who could return back to their countries as soon as they got BC or ILR. If they were not genuine than they have to be punished by the community and every opportunity as they have stolen the place of other people and make genuine refugees who are betwen life and death and subject to tougher measure.

Adindas

Is life better in the UK than France, Ireland, Germany, Holland etc? I do not know but someone might know.

Life is certainly better. In my (free NHS) clinic I regularly see an ex asylum seeker, now a refugee with recent ILR* (He can't get British citizenship as despite residing in the UK for 7 years he can barely speak English) He has never worked in this country, well, so he says, and neither has his wife. They have 3 children who all attend (free) state schools. This is what they get every month:

For his long term back pain from being tortured - £80/week incapacity benefit = £350/month
For his chronic disability (bad back, walks with a stick around doctors but not when out in town - one of our nurses has seen him) - mobility and care Disability Living Allowance - £320/month
His wife is his main "carer" - she gets £38/week carer's allowance = £165/month
They have 3 children all under 16 = £182/month in child benefits
Total - £1017 a month.
They live in a 3 bedroom terraced council property with a garden in an OK part of London. Their rent is paid by housing benefit. They pay no council tax.
And only God knows whether the wife works cash in hand too. He certainly does - at a kebab take away in the next borough. He claims he doesn't get paid and hangs out there for the social benefits of being with friends from his own country

He has a freedom pass which means he doesn't pay a penny for travel around London. The last time I saw them (with a very expensive interpreter, paid from my limited misc. budget) the wife asked if she could get a freedom pass too as his "carer"

Almost forgot this bit - they have recently returned from a trip to their original country. It was an emergency he said - his sister was very ill.

* some details have been changed for confidentiality reasons.