MV member Nas on ITV Central after being granted refugee status

MV member Nas on ITV Central after being granted refugee status

Migrant Voice member Nas Popalzai came to the UK as an unaccompanied minor from Afghanistan. For 10 years, he's been trying to win the right to stay here permanently. We joined the 'Nas must stay' campaign last year and in January, he was finally given refugee status, to the delight of his friends and Nas himself.

ITV Central covered the story on 20 January 2019.

"I can get on with my life now," Nas told reporter Hannah Bechelet. "I can just be like a normal person."

He said he planned to get a driving licence and start looking for jobs, perhaps with the fire service.

Speaking about the years of uncertainty, he said, "I was very scared because I thought, if I lose this, I don’t need life, I don’t want to live."

His friend and MV staff member Salman Mirza told ITV, "The good thing for Nas is that his journey isn’t over. Both him and me and going to now look at other people’s stories and try and help them out, and make Birmingham a more welcoming place.”

Watch the report here.