Afghan interpreter who helped British forces has 'no hope' of bringing wife to the UK due to strict immigration laws

In a three-part series the South Wales Argus reporter SAM FERGUSON spent time with three interpreters now living in Newport.

Their names have been changed to protect themselves and their families – who are still in Afghanistan. This is the last story of our series.

DAVDAR, not his real name, came to Newport from Afghanistan in July 2016 after serving on the front lines as an interpreter for British forces.

The 28-year-old, who comes from Kandahar, now works in a Tesco distribution centre.

He says he joined the collation forces after another interpreter friend told him of the good work they were doing.

“We were helping people in our country – the right way,” said Davdar.

“It was very dangerous, of course, but I wanted to do my bit to help Afghanistan.

“We could teach the Afghan culture and traditions to the forces, to me that was the most important thing.

“We were like a bridge between two worlds.”

READ MORE: Strict immigration laws are forcing Afghan interpreters who served with British troops in war to live without their families.

Davdar started work with the Dutch forces before joining the French. His last assignment saw him work with frontline British troops for two years in Helmand province.

After earning his visa and coming to the UK, Davdar returned to Afghanistan for a few months to visit his family, and married the woman he loved.

He didn’t marry his wife before leaving Afghanistan because of the danger he was facing from a resurgent Taliban.

Getting a visa as a single person was quicker, he explained, and a price had been put on his head.

But now, he faces the same restrictions as other married interpreters who have settled in the UK.

“It’s very hard,” he said.

“But this is how it is for us. I’m very worried about her with the security situation at home.

“I could get my visa quicker as a single person, so I got out of the area when the situation was very bad in 2016.

“Then when I returned to visit I married my wife.

“But I didn’t know the process would be this hard to bring her over. A family needs to be together.”

Davdar says he is angry at the situation he has been put in after serving and risking his life alongside British forces for so long.

He must earn £18,600-a-year before he can bring his wife over to the UK. She must also pass an English language test – requirements which Davdar says he currently has no hope in meeting.

“If I had decided to come here as an illegal immigrant and claim refugee status, I would have been able to bring my wife over without such difficulties,” said Davdar.

READ MORE: Afghan interpreter who served with British troops struggling to live normal life here due to strict immigration laws.

“After what we have done and sacrificed, they should change the rules for us.”

Yesterday (Thursday, March 6), Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced that wives and children who were not brought over by Afghan interpreters when they first obtained visas would soon be able to enter the country without meeting the strict immigration conditions.

But this decision, while welcome, leaves Davdar and other like him, who were not married when they left Afghanistan, in the lurch.

“I hope they can change the rules further,” said Davdar.

“I am not optimistic, but I must live in hope and wait.”

How did we get here?

IN 2013 coalition forces in Afghanistan announced they were going to withdraw from the country.

After 12 long years of attrition, Western troops were leaving the country behind.

Leaving the terror of improvised explosive devices buried on footpaths and in ditches, on farmland and in doorways.

Leaving behind the confusion of a war with no front lines against an enemy who wore no uniforms.

Leaving the memory of disfigured soldiers seared onto the consciousness of an entire generation.

But they also left people behind. Young men who had signed up with coalition forces in an effort to rebuild their shattered country, using their English language skills on front line patrols with British troops.

They shared their victories and their defeats, their gains and losses.

Eventually, after pressure from media and the armed forces, 430 “local staff” from Afghanistan, including interpreters who had served 12 months or more with British forces in Helmand, were granted visas to relocate to the UK.

If they had stayed in Afghanistan, some would now be dead – victims of the resurgent Taliban.

Now safe from the Taliban, some face another battle.

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A battle against the Government to allow their wives and children to join them in the UK.

Although the relocation scheme allowed for immediate family members to leave with their loved ones and come to the UK, the reality on the ground often made this impossible.

Interpreters faced some stark choices.

Leave with wives and children in the knowledge that doing so would expose them as interpreters and put their family left behind at risk.

Stay in Afghanistan, and hope their cover stories held as the Taliban once again grew in strength.

Rely on the Government’s ‘Intimidation scheme’ – focussed on relocating interpreters to other parts of Afghanistan - which was derided as a total failure in a 2018 House of Commons report.

Or to take their visas, and believe the promises that bringing family members to join them in the UK after the dust had settled would not be a difficult process.

A recent Home Office decision has finally allowed interpreters who left their wives and children in Afghanistan to bring them to the UK – but this doesn’t apply to interpreters who were not married when they left.

Many took single visas to get out of the country quickly after facing death threats, but hoped to return and marry their loved ones when the dust settled.

At least nine interpreters ended up in Newport. Three agreed to tell us about their lives.

In this short series of three special reports, we will tell you their stories.