When they are irregular, migrants often fear being detained. Mongolian irregular migrants explained that they live in constant fear and trauma because of the threat of deportation. The fear of being deported was especially burdensome for some. For example, one interviewee said “I’m not happy because I am undocumented”, whereas another said that she was “100% happy” even though she was undocumented.

In some situations, even if there is a legal framework to protect migrants, it is not respected by employers. An interviewee explained that in Qatar, the legal framework forbids employers to remove a migrant’s passport. However, this seems to be a fairly common practice. Ministerial Decree 16/2007 forbids outdoor work between 11.30am and 3pm in the summer. It also states that no labourer may log more than 5 hours of work in the morning. These too are unfortunately common practices. A situation of dependency on the employer can lead to abuse by the employer, who may limit a migrant’s social interaction with the external world, or sexually or physically abuse him or her, etc.

When they are irregular, migrants often fear being detained. Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants explained that, given their irregular status, most of them were changing residential area from week to week to avoid getting caught

Limited financial resources force migrants to live in dire situations. A Syrian woman, with a family of nine, had been lucky. A Turkish neighbour had offered her family his empty apartment free of rent. She only needed to pay for electricity and water. However, there was an unpaid water bill from a previous tenant of several hundreds of dollars, which she could not afford to pay. Her family has one breadwinner, who earns a minimum salary. Her apartment is hence without water. Every day she walks several kilometres to bring water to her family.

Female migrants may be more exposed to harassment and abuse. A single Somalian lady shared that she faces harassment from all sides, including from males in the community. A Somalian shop owner confirmed that he regularly witnesses sexual assaults on women in the community.

The irregular status of migrants may force them to take on lower paid jobs and suffer abuse. Mongolian migrants in Sweden explained that their employers often exploited their situation as irregular migrants to offer them sub market rates. They explained that complaining to their employers did not help as they were told that they could leave because “nobody cares about you, and I can call and have you deported”. If they try to object too much, they get fired. They also explained that because they only have an oral contract, employers frequently fail to pay them.

The irregular status of migrants may make them more dependent on the will of their employer and more exposed to abuse. A study by UNICEF, ILO and IOM on child migrants in Central America highlighted that in many cases young labour migrants are not covered by their contracts, since these consider them adults, removing the possibility of holding the employers accountable. In other cases, migrants have no contract at all, even if they work directly with an employer and are at their disposal.

Lack of language skills or certificates can create obstacles to finding jobs. Several Syrian migrants in Turkey explained that most were struggling to find stable jobs, and relied on temporary jobs, savings or loans from friends. Moreover, several interviewees shared that they were often offered much lower salaries than the locals, and were expected to work longer hours. Some specific stories are provided below:

• A Syrian woman had been a teacher in her home country. While she was eager to find a job and had submitted several applications she had not found a job. She did not speak Turkish, and lacked the national certificate required to work at national schools. She was studying Turkish in order to pass the national exam, in hope of finding a job in the future.
• A Syrian man of 50 shared his frustration that he had tried to find a job to provide for his family. However, he could not find anything, as he was considered too old. His son, 15, had found a job and was the sole breadwinner of the family. He wished that things were different and that his son could finish his education instead of having to work to provide for his family.
• A Syrian man had been living in Turkey with his family for over a year, and had yet not found a job. While initially he had relied on the few savings he had brought, he now relied on handouts from the government and Turkish neighbours, or loans from family and friends. He did not know why he was not being offered jobs.

Limited funds force migrants to live in dire circumstances. Most migrants from Myanmar explained that they either lived at construction camps, or rented a room where other migrants or poor Thai people also lived. “It’s cheap but poor quality,” explained one migrant.

Migration often results in separated families, who may spend years without seeing each other. A Syrian woman, currently living in Ankara, Turkey, explained that her 10 year old son was in Europe, with an uncle. She had sent him there trying to find a better life for him. She wanted to reunite with him, but had not been allowed to.

Some migrants shared that they would benefit from a single location where they could find out about the various services available to them. A group of Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants said that they knew of no location that would point them to where they could find different types of support, and thought such a service would be useful.

Lack of financial resources may lead to inability to pay for education. Congolese migrants explained that, in the past, education was provided by an NGO. However, the NGO no longer had sufficient funds to provide education. Some education was provided by another organization that, in an attempt to reach more students, had classes of 100 students. They explained that the classes were too large for students to hear the teachers. A young man (of 19) shared that, when he arrived in 2012, he had enrolled in class 5 for one year. After that, they could no longer afford the payments for his schooling.

Even when services are provided, existing systems may not be sufficient to cover all the needs. Turkey provides free classes for children at school age both at camps and in cities. Classes follow the Syrian curriculum and are taught by Syrian teachers during the afternoons, in Turkish schools. However, the schools do not have the capacity required for all Syrian children in Turkey (800,000). Several mothers worried about the education of their children.

Lack of language skills can result in obstacles for migrants to continue their education in a new location. A few Syrian girls living in Turkey had been studying at university when they had to escape the conflict. Their studies had been paused for a few years, as they did not speak Turkish, and could therefore not continue their education at the Turkish University. They did not have enough financial resources to have internet at home either, so remote online courses were therefore not an option for them. They were all studying Turkish, hoping to be able to continue their education in the future.