On 9 February this year refugee cinematographer Ayman Alhussein was excitedly planning his future career and preparing to apply for British citizenship. On 10 February everything changed for him and tens of thousands of others.
On that day the governmentannouncedthat refugees will “normally” be denied the right to apply for British citizenship even though they have been given permission to live and work in the UK.
Ministers’ reasoning is that because refugees arrived here illegally due to making dangerous journeys to the UK, often on dinghies or in the backs of lorries, they do not meet the “good character” requirements for British citizenship. The Refugee Council estimates that at least 71,000 refugees will be adversely affected by this policy.
“Now people like me who have never committed a crime will be treated worse than criminals,” said Alhussein, 31. “The day before the announcement I was way more motivated than the day after. Before I could see a future. Now I can no longer see one. The aim of this policy is to deter refugees from coming here but many are still arriving. I arrived here nine years ago. How will it deter me?”
On Monday a series of amendments to the border security, asylum and immigration bill will be debated in parliament. Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, has tabled an amendment that the good character requirement should not be applied contrary to the UK’s international legal obligations. This clause is one of the most controversial in the new bill and has beenopposedby many charities, trades unions, faith leaders, lawyers and human rights campaigners as well as by refugees themselves.
Alhussein, who fled Syria after being twice imprisoned for protesting against the Assad regime and narrowly avoided being killed by a bomb in his neighbourhood in a suburb of Aleppo, arrived in the UK in 2017 and was granted refugee status in 2019.
He is supporting a high court challenge to the policy being brought by a Syrian refugee friend, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. His friend was part-way through his application for British citizenship when the new policy denying refugees citizenship was announced. The legal challenge argues that the new rules are unlawful and incompatible with the UN refugee convention.
Alhussein said he has worked hard to integrate into and contribute to British society. He speaks excellent English with an almost perfect English accent. “I have worked hard on my English. My English is better than my Arabic now!”
At the start of the pandemic when lockdown was introduced he bought himself a cheap old car so that he could deliver food and medicine to elderly and vulnerable people who could not leave home.
“I love to celebrate Christmas as well as Eid. I was looking forward to applying for my British citizenship in September of this year, getting a British passport and voting for the first time. But now I won’t be able to do those things.Refugeeswork hard, we pay our taxes but we are now expected to be treated like second class human beings forever and to always live with uncertainty.”
He has worked on several films including the Syrian film The Swimmers and has a short film in development with the BBC. “I have always found British people to be friendly. I worked on the British film The Great Escaper with Michael Caine as a trainee in the camera department and had a chat with him about refugee issues. He was a very decent man and he was very positive about refugees.”
Jed Pennington, head of public law and human rights at Wilsons solicitors, which is bringing the high court challenge against the denial of citizenship policy said: “Refugees and others who have made their homes in this country simply ask for the issue of their good character to be considered objectively according to the evidence presented. For many people, irregular arrival will have been to flee war or persecution and their unlawful entry will have occurred many years ago. There is no evidence it will deter people from making perilous journeys to seek sanctuary and its purpose is therefore hard to understand.”