We’re not wanting to take your money from you - it’s the government’s decision to stop us from working.

Imagine that you are a professional. You have a good life, you live with your family, after work you go out with your friends. All of a sudden, something that you couldn’t expect happens and you are forced to flee, but you can’t use your own knowledge and make use of your talent anymore.

In the UK there are thousands of people in this situation. After fleeing their own countries, they took refuge here. As soon as they arrive, they want to build their new lives, but the current immigration rules don’t allow them to work until the Home Office grants them refugee status. During months, or years, they are forced to live on £5 a day – from being full professionals, they are forced to live in poverty.

The UK is filled with enormous talent going to waste: already qualified people are not allowed to work and enhance their skills due to restrictions placed on them. This is happening while we are witnessing a shortage of workers, especially within the medical and educational sectors: this imbalance could be rectified if the government lifted the ban to work for asylum seekers. It would improve the distribution of workload and reduce work related pressures which have led to 300 nurses committing suicide in the last 7 years.

Lifting the ban to work would also reduce the burden on taxpayers and the economy: the government is currently paying £37.50 per week to each asylum seeker. If instead of relying on hand-outs asylum seekers could work, they would be able to provide for themselves – while boosting their own self-esteem and mental well-being.

Newly arrived asylum seekers have to wait months, if not years, before they get to know if they have been granted asylum and are allowed to work. Throughout this time the government has made it compulsory for physically fit people to depend on others to survive, thus giving way to a cultural effect of dependency. These are people who might already be traumatised from wherever they are coming from, and staying home all day is not going to help: an idle mind is a devil workshop.

For young asylum seekers the ban extends to education. Asylum seekers should be able to study, not just maths and English. A lot of people want to go to university and college, but because asylum seekers aren’t allowed to access student loans it becomes almost impossible to access education – which will limit our ability to work in the future. Waiting for status takes a long time, our formative years should not be wasted. Lack of childcare makes it even harder for mothers with young children to access education. Everybody should be treated equally.

We’re not waiting to take your money from you- it’s the government’s decision to stop us from working. We don’t want to depend on tax payer’s money- the government forces us to. If we can work we can be independent and look after ourselves, and the government won’t have to worry about giving us all £37.50 per week.

People will not remember the days they went without eating, or the days they slept without having a good meal. But they will remember the feelings of frustration, anger, guilt about coming here in the first place. As Maya Angelou powerfully put it: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.

We are members of Brighter Futures, Praxis’ group for young migrants and asylum seekers. Our aim is to shine a light on how government policy affects everyday lives for young migrants, and to convert the frustration of not being able to work into positive acts.

This article was written in support of Refugee Action campaign Lift the Ban, aiming to grant asylum seekers the right to work.