A father who risks being sent to a war zone. Just one case the home secretary says is ‘too complex’ to clear

A Yemeni father who has been waiting over a year for his asylum claim to be processed has told how the Home Office botched his family’s application, sending his wife an ID card bearing a strange man’s photo.

The applicant, a successful designer who has lent his talents to the UK film industry and who wants to avoid being sent back to a war zone, told this newspaper how the department also granted his family residency cards “in error”.

He said he and his wife experienced panic attacks as a result of the slow and error-prone process. Moving to the UK under a student visa, he said he has always paid his way in Britain, rising to manage fellow workers at a company in London, and that he cannot face returning to Yemen.

Details of his case, which is a so-called “legacy” asylum application, will raise questions about claims made by home secretary James Cleverly that all outstanding asylum cases are “complex”, especially considering the high success rate of his fellow Yemenis in receiving some form of protection from the UK since the country is being ravaged by conflict.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Mr Cleverly announced at the beginning of the year that they had cleared all these older asylum claims, which were submitted before 28 June 2022.

However some 4,500 cases are still waiting on a decision, with Mr Cleverly saying it was “impossible” to know when they would be cleared.

Mr Sunak’s announcement was met with a rebuke last week by the UK Statistics Authority, which said people may feel they were “misled” by his language.

The Home Office had said that these “complex” cases typically involve “asylum seekers presenting as children – where age verification is taking place; those with serious medical issues; or those with suspected past convictions, where checks may reveal criminality”. But the father said he didn’t fit any of these categories and should be a simple case.

Yemeni nationals are eligible for fast-tracked asylum claims because their grant rate is so high as a result of the ongoing war in their country. According to the most up to date data, for the year to October, shows that 396 Yemeni nationals claimed asylum – with 94 per cent given some form of protection in the UK.

Refugee charity Care4Calais says it has seen a number of other “legacy” asylum cases from nationalities that should have been quickly processed with a fast-track questionaire, such as Sudan and Yemen, but who are still waiting.

The Yemeni father, who came to the UK in 2021 on a student visa and is now working at a leading motion graphics company, told The Independent that politicians were wrong to describe cases like his as “complicated”. He detailed the stress his family has been going through not knowing if they will be granted asylum here.

The 34-year-old, who speaks perfect English, said: “They have been saying that there have been 4,500 complicated cases and that they are in three categories; age-disputed child, suspected criminal record, or people who are sick. We don’t fit in any of these categories and we came here legally.”

“There is something missing here and we are living in oblivion, we aren’t even allowed to know what is happening. It is really hard.”

Speaking about his life in the UK, he said that he is renting a home for his family and commutes into London to his full-time job at a motion graphics company, which provides effects for Hollywood films.

His wife has just given birth to their second child and their eldest daughter, 5, loves going to the local school.

He had spent the majority of his life in Saudia Arabia but was forced to leave when the authorities began a crack down on Yemeni nationals in the country. Hundreds of Yemeni professionals were let go from their jobs in an apparent effort to tackle Saudi unemployment and as a result of the Saudi war against Yemen’s Houthi group.

When he first came to the UK, he spent a year studying for a masters degree as well as doing part-time work. A student visa usually allows someone to stay in the UK for five years and bring their partner and children. It is not possible to claim public funds on this visa and migrants have to pay a healthcare surcharge to access the NHS. Once someone claims for asylum their status is protected under the same conditions.

He said: “The image of asylum seekers that people see in the media is one of people coming here to ask for taxpayers’ money to live a stress-free life. I am actually myself a taxpayer and since I came here I have been working and I have been renting.”

Sharing an animated showreel showcasing his work, he said: “I have not taken a single penny from anyone. It is all on me. Right now, I lead a team doing motion graphics for the film industry.”

Xural.com