“The cage has opened but I still can’t fly”: Exploring the lived experiences of refugees with Leave to Remain in the North of England.

Abstract:For many asylum-seekers in the UK, receiving Leave to Remain signals the end of a prolonged period of waiting. Leave to Remain signals a shift in legal classification from ‘asylum-seeker’ to ‘refugee’ and with this changing legal status comes the right to work, the possibility of family reunification and access to public benefits. However, when Leave to Remain is initially granted, an individual has only 28 days before their existing asylum support (housing, finance) terminates. Drawing on interviews with individuals who have recently received Leave to Remain, together with local authorities and civil society groups in the North of England, this paper explores how materials construct a tension between the official ‘legal’ ending of an individual’s relationship to the UK asylum system and the persistence of the asylum system beyond these formal confines. These materials include the Biometric Residence Permit, eviction letters from government housing providers, the paperwork involved in setting up a bank account, and having to navigate the Universal Credit system online. This paper argues that through these materials, receiving Leave to Remain signals a new geography of forced migration, one that extends the asylum system beyond the legal acceptance of a political claim.