Osman arrived in the UK aged 21 in 2001, after hiding aboard a lorry in Calais. Upon his arrival he claimed asylum to live as a refugee in the UK, and has waited 18 years for permission to remain.

Osman is from Iraq. He left because a terrorist group Anansar Al Islam (later merging into ISIS) imposed Sharia Law in Northeastern Iraq. Osman was pushed by his family to follow Islam but he was not interested.

He worked in Iran’s capital Tehran as a park groundskeeper, deciding to leave after six months as fundamental Islamic terrorist groups started to gain more control. “If they catch you with drink, no chance. If they catch you singing, not allowed. Not only me, many people scared.” Osman recalls. “Gay, no chance, they take him to a big building they push him, when he falls down they see if he’s still alive and stone him to death.”

To escape Osman walked 16 days to a town called Van in Turkey then took a bus to Istanbul. Four times, Osman attempted a 5 day walk to cross the border to Greece, each time being sent back to Istanbul by Greek border police. Osman successfully walked for 18 days to Thessaloniki and paid for a bus to Athens, where he worked for several months. From Greece he went to Italy.

In Rome he met a group of 15 or so Farsi speaking people from Iraq going to Paris. They travelled in trains (without tickets), slowly making their way to Calais on the Northern coast of France. After just one night Osman managed to board a lorry to the UK, claiming asylum in Dover.

Osman went to Wolverhampton and found work at a chocolate factory in Telford, where he worked until 2011.Three years after being in the UK in 2004 the Home Office found that Osman had claimed asylum under a false name as an Iranian. “Because [during] this time everything change, in Iraq, Sadam gone. The Home Office started deporting Iraqi, I was very scared, I was very young and somebody talked to me and said you should make [your] name Iranian. If you don’t make your name Iranian they will deport you.”

In 2007 Osman’s Uncle (who along with Osman’s cousin has leave to remain in the UK) drove him to the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal Court in Heathrow. 41 people were being deported on criminal charges. The judge agreed with Osman’s barrister that he was not a criminal, believed his story and reason for seeking asylum so was not deported. However, his asylum claim was refused a month later.

Osman has made another four fresh claims and made appeals against Home Office decisions. Some Judges believe his story, others tell him he should return. The Home Office has still not granted him refugee status, removing his right to work and live independently in 2011. Osman now has to live in government supported housing in Stoke-on-Trent and survives on £35 asylum allowance a week. He suffers from poor mental health as a result of his experiences. “Everything I do they don’t believe. At the moment I don’t have any hope.”