Asylum seeker bemoans delays hitting work ambitions

An asylum seeker says she and others like her are keen to work after leaving behind abuse for a better life in the UK, but are unable to while the government stalls on their futures.

The 36-year-old mother-of-two is based in Stoke-on-Trent after arriving near Birmingham from Albania in 2016.

Wishing to remain anonymous, she says she cannot make long-term plans with a question mark hanging over her status.

The government says it is taking action to clear a backlog of claims.

Last week, the Home Office launched an ad campaign targeting Albanian nationals to deter them from migrating to the UK.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke, the woman said she had escaped an abusive marriage in a male-dominant culture.

"My ex-husband beat me," she said. "He was a criminal. He tried to sell the girls. He can sell his wife for drugs, for sex. I am one of the victims."

Cataloguing sexual abuse by other parties, and burns and mutilation by her husband, she said he was eventually jailed, with her fleeing to the UK with her two children.

"To be honest, I am happy," she explained, adding she and her children had food on the table while she sought to "better" herself. "But since 2016 I don't have any answer from the Home Office."

She said asylum seekers needed to work while they waited for government decisions on their futures.

"I'm thinking always, the Home Office, they know what they are doing.... You can see what happened in Ukraine and look right in Sudan," she said.

"[But] I'm so upset. I escape the news. We need to do our prayer and believe in God and what is for us will come."

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