Mara Weiss

Most asylum seekers are legally prevented from working and are procedurally trapped in purposeless limbo. If asylum is finally granted, the refugee ‘label’ prohibits them from gaining employment. Economic migrants, particularly women, fail to enter the job market after years of culturally imposed prejudices and restrictions, or simply being a mother. This condition is not just detrimental to the self but also for the UK, which could largely benefit from the diverse skills that migrants bring to the country. Rather than making migrants reliant on benefits, how can the current (public) spaces of waiting be spatially and programmatically adapted to turn their abundance of time into something productive, redefining the migrant’s Right to Have Purpose?