People seeking asylum in the UK are only able to apply for the right to work after they have been waiting for a decision on their asylum claim for over a year. Even then, the few people who are granted such permission are rarely able to work in practice because their employment is restricted to the narrow list of highly skilled professions included on the Government’s Shortage Occupation List.
This means that people are essentially banned from working whilst they wait months, and often years, for a decision on their asylum claim. Instead they are left to live on just £5.39 per day, struggling to support themselves and their families, while their talents are wasted and their integration set back.
No other European country enforces a 12 month ban, neither do Canada or the USA. This seems to be an entirely positive idea all round and would put an earlier target on the Home Office when it comes to processing the claims they receive. That has to be good for all, I would have thought.
www.refugee-action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lift-the-Ban-report.pdf
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