in …Britain. You have the right to say things…
(Male, Romania)
“{I knew} it is a democracy…you can think what you want… it’s a free country. Everyone
has heard that.
(Male, Iran)
• Colonial ties
“I decided to go to London because my second language is English. I can manage. If I
go to Germany or France, or Holland, I couldn’t manage, because I have to learn that
Language. London is no problem.”
(Male, Sri Lanka)
“Our traditional culture is mainly British influenced. For example… we wear white
wedding dresses. That’s not in our religion ad it’s not really in our Somali traditional
culture, but… they had that from the British… Even the language, {has} a lot of English
in there. For example, ‘cabbage’. We say ‘cabbage’ in Somali as well… There’s a lot of
British in Somaliland.”
(Female, Somalia)
• Landscape and culture
“High buildings, white streets, clean”
(Female, Sudan)
“London I had known about a long time, about Greenwich {Mean} Time and … Tower
Bridge. This is old, old country.”
(Male, Yemen)
“Ringo Star, Paul McCartney… cool, free, anti-establishment, you know.”
(Male, Chile)
“… even from when I was a child I loved England too much. It was my favourite county.
I saw Manchester United playing football. SO really it was a country of dreams for me.”
(Male, Iran)
• Perceptions of British people
“The people, really clean with ties, going to big business, you know, big companies….I
thought this is the head, this is the country that decides what … happens in wars. They
are really important people.
(Male, Iran)
“In Iran… even the normal people they say English people are … cold, they don’t talk to
anybody, they are not friendly”
2. Agents
What role do the agents play in channelling asylum seekers to the UK?
“[The agent said I am] sending a group to Britain… ‘Do you want to go with them?’. I
said OK…”
(Male, Iran)
“The person told me…’I have a ticket and you can go to London, to England”, so I say ‘I
have to take that chance to go’
(Male, Congo)
“if I go [to] America or Australia I have to spend more money. If I come [to the UK] I’d
spend nearly £5000. Australia is £7000. America is £8000”
(Male, Sri Lanka)
“The agent tell[s] me UK is best for refugee at the moment. Government accepts many
refugees”
(Male, Iran)
“I wanted to go to France…[or]…Sweden, but agent says England is better…”
(Female, Iran)
3. Family and Friends in the UK
Is the desire to be near family and friends one most human beings experience
and thus one of the strongest pull factors for migration?
“..when we have to leave the country, we just think about her because my brother was
here, it as better for us to come here.”
(Female, Iran)
“I don’t think we came because there was much attraction to come here, to be quite
honest. It’s because we had those two friends [here]. That was the link. We felt that
we were not going to be isolated. That there would be somebody that we could speak to
in Spanish [and] …from Chile. There was somebody that we liked and loved and it will
help… our sense of... homesickness”
(Female, Chile)
