Supporting an asylum seeker given Leave to Remain

M is a 34 year old Iranian man who arrived in the UK in July 2025 and was sent to one of the hotels we support.

He attended English class in his first week. His English was reasonable but he attended every class over the next few months and studied on his own, making huge progress. His English is now good enough to work, but he wants to improve it.

He was granted Leave to Remain in November and given an eviction date in early January. He did everything necessary very quickly, aware that finding accommodation would not be easy in the area.

The input from HWR volunteers at this time included general advice on applying for Universal Credit, opening a bank account etc. We also referred him to a charity offering housing to single men in the area. He was accepted by them and moved into one of their shared houses in mid-December. This charity states that they offer help to find employment or voluntary work, but, rather disappointingly, have not helped him with this.

M is a qualified, experienced plumber and has experience in general maintenance work. He is desperate to work and to begin a ‘normal life’ in the UK. He attends the Job Centre regularly and is frustrated by their approach in that they only ask him what he has applied for and don’t offer any help or guidance.

Many jobs and courses request English and Maths GCSEs which, of course he does not have, although he does have higher qualifications from Iran, which are not recognised.

He has only just become eligible to attend college and has applied for ESOL and plumbing courses, but has been told that he cannot start ESOL until the autumn. He has applied for over 200 jobs but has not been successful.

HWR volunteers have told him about a number of courses and programmes to help him in his job search and he has explored all of these.

• English for Work (online) – The Launchpad Collective – applied and accepted. HWR have provided him with a laptop, as the course can’t be done on a mobile phone
• Preparing to Work – Oaklands College – accepted on Health and Social care module and doing it this month in order to get general information about working and to improve his English.
• Government Connect to Work programme - identified a plumbing course in Stevenage College which does not require GCSEs. He has contacted the college about this.

He is due to sit his Driving Theory Test next week, and is scoring very highly on mock tests. He knows that taking the practical test will be expensive but is aware that getting a driving licence will open up many more job opportunities for him.

This report was shared with M who gave his consent for it to be used and wanted to add these comments:

"From my second day after arrival, Herts Welcomes Refugees (HWR) helped me resolve my SIM card problem by providing me with a Vodafone SIM card. As I had no clothes with me, they provided clothing for me.  They helped me with Asda vouchers so I could buy basic necessities, as I had no money at all apart from that.
By organising regular English classes, they enabled me to communicate with people around me.
I was suffering from sleep problems, and they helped me register with a GP. Volunteer E personally accompanied me to the GP for the first time.
After I received a positive decision from the Home Office, and when I was almost certain that I had no possibility of finding a room, HWR volunteers arranged the process of finding accommodation for me.
When I was about to leave the hotel, they again provided me with shopping vouchers so I could buy essential items for cooking and daily living.
However, more important than all of this, I can say that they gave me a sense of care, kindness, and calm, which helped me to a large extent to cope with the absence of my family.
This is something I will never forget."