Being an asylum seeker

 'If I buy a bus ticket I can't eat for two days' - asylum seeker Aymen - BBC News

Contrary to all those right-wing accusations asylum-seekers do not have it easy in the UK.

Most are barred from working so they rely on UK government support. Most wish to be allowed to work while awaiting decisions on their applications.

Typically this is £40.85 a week, or £5.84 a day. Others in hotels are given £8.24 a week, or £1.18 a day.

There are approximately 5,200 people in the asylum support system in Scotland with about 4,700 accommodated and/or financially supported by the Home Office. 

In Scotland, between 500 and 600 people in the asylum system live in 10 hotels across eight local authorities. Since they are provided with "full board", they can only apply for £8.24 in support per week, or £1.18 a day. 

Hawre, a Kurd from Iraq, said,  "Financial gain wasn't something on my mind when I came here. If I didn't have a big issue in Iraq, if it wasn't life-threatening, I wouldn't come here to live under these circumstances living on £1 a day. It makes me feel less human, like we're being treated inhumanely."

Pinar Aksu, human rights and advocacy coordinator at the Maryhill Integration Network (MIN), an organisation which supports people in the asylum system in the Glasgow area, said, "With the cost of living crisis, people seeking asylum are forced to live in extreme poverty having to choose between buying food, clothes, or travelling."

MIN has also called on the SNP to follow the Welsh government by providing free bus passes for people seeking asylum. Aksu said the move would allow people to travel without being "forced to pick between food, travel and essential needs".