Motaz Amer – who is one of the Scottish Government’s New Scots Advisers aged just 20 – got permanent settlement in the UK in 2023 having fled Yemen a few months after the start of the civil war in 2015 and is now settled in Glasgow.
Having been forced to leave his home with his family and nothing but his passport, he said the the Home Secretary’s plans to bring in reforms to the asylum system such as revoking the legal duty to provide asylum seeker support and increasing the wait for permanent settlement to 20 years from five will do “nothing but harm”.
There have also been suggestions asylum seekers could have jewellery taken off them in the future to fund the cost of their stay in the UK – echoing the “jewellery law” in Denmark.
Amer, 20, told The National the UK is “punishing” people for seeking a better life from war and conflict.
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He said: “I am very concerned and worried because instead of focusing on integration and how we can make sure people can contribute to society, we’re doing the opposite.
“We’re saying ‘no, even if you have refugee status, even if your asylum is approved, you’re still temporary’, so you can’t do anything.
“It gives people a sense of insecurity and instability, which was one of the reasons they fled their countries in the first place, because of war and conflict.
“We’re talking about [bringing back] feelings they already had and fled because they wanted a better future for themselves and their children.”
He went on: “We’ve had the Home Secretary saying we need tougher policies – these are not tougher policies, you are punishing people for coming here.
“I think that’s unjust and unfair. I wouldn’t be able to go to university if I didn’t have my the status, and these opportunities will not be available to those people.”
Amer – who has recently started a degree in engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence at Glasgow University – still remembers the day he got his refugee status and how worried he felt in the run-up to it.
He said plans to extend the requirement to 20 years for permanent status are “appalling”.
“Waiting 20 years is ridiculous; to be one of us or not, to be a stranger or not, it’s appalling,” he said.
“It makes me sad and disappointed because I remember when we were waiting for the results of our application – we were really stressed. We couldn’t do anything, our hands were tied. We needed to feel we can belong.
“I remember when we got our status, we felt really happy and that we belonged to this society and that the UK welcomed us when we had lost almost everything.
“That’s why it ignited a passion within us to give back to society, to be able to say this is my country and I want to make it better. You can’t have those feelings and ambitions if you don’t feel stable and secure.”
The inspiration for a lot of the reforms has come from Denmark, which drastically changed its migration system in response to a major influx of people throughout the 2010.
As a result, asylum seekers can only get temporary residence permits for one to two years.
Amer said it concerned him the UK is putting “blind faith” in another country’s system.
Despite fierce criticism from some Labour MPs – including Nadia Whittome who called the plans “dystopian” – Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has defended the proposals.
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She insisted her asylum plans could unite “a divided country” and fix the system, with the reforms “aimed at making Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants”.
Amer said the proposals would not stop people coming to the UK.
“It won’t stop people from coming here, let’s be clear,” he added.
“These people are fleeing wars – they won’t look into policies, waiting times, settlements or status. They just want to get to a safe place they can rebuild their lives.
“The people who will be impacted are already here, those people will be denied opportunities and rights they should have. This will do nothing but harm.”