Chandrahas’s Story | All I needed was solid ground to stand on, so I can help others too

Chandrahas is a Swedish citizen, living and working in Southport, where he works for the NHS. His journey to settle in the UK is still underway, and it hasn’t been easy. 

In 2019, I had a home, a stable job, and a wonderful partner in Sweden, living in my comfort zone. It had always been my partner’s dream to live in Liverpool, the city of the Beatles. I decided to follow that dream in the hope of a better life. 

If you dig out a tree with deep roots and plant it in a new place, you don’t know whether it will survive or die. That’s how I felt for a long time - unrooted, challenged at every step. It was very emotional to leave everything behind: friends, my employers, my home.

I came here having been told it was going to be a couple of weeks to get set up, find a job and a place for us to live, and then my partner would join me. I am a qualified teacher, I was working with children with special needs in Sweden, but I came with no expectations. I hoped for a job which paid the bills while I got settled in. 

It took two months to get an appointment at the Job Centre to get a National Insurance Number. I was living in an Airbnb, paying extortionate amounts of money out of my life savings. I couldn’t find accommodation anywhere; no landlord would take me without a job. But I needed a place to live that was more sustainable, and an insurance number, to get a job.

I wanted to get to know people and contribute to my local community, while waiting for this to come through. I went to a local charity and started volunteering. I went to the local job centre and asked them where I could get started. 

Everyone was quite confused about my rights. People didn’t expect me to be an EU citizen, and even when they saw my Swedish passport they couldn’t give me direct advice about my right to work and whether I could access support or training opportunities while looking for work. I was sent from place to place, getting nowhere, and being confused about my rights.

In March 2019, the government launched a beta phase of the EU Settlement Scheme. I wanted clarity about my rights after Brexit, so I applied straight away. I waited months for a decision. I didn’t get a letter through the post as I expected, but I did get an email with my pre-settled decision in mid-June. It gave me some relief that I’d be able to continue to live in the UK, but it didn’t help much in getting the support and clarity I needed.

I found myself in this maze of being unable to get signed on at the Job Centre because I didn’t have a place to live. It was necessary to get help from Job Centre, to get a stepping stone into employment so that I would get a rental accommodation, so that I would be able to present a testimonial to a landlord and eligible to rent a house/flat. 

I was advised by the acquaintances at the volunteering centre to apply for housing support from Sefton Council & Job Centre.

However, I applied, both applications were turned down repeatedly, despite of presenting my ID documents & Home Office’s decision, since being an EU citizen was not good enough, just because neither I was a refugee nor have Settled status in the UK. 

My repeated attempts to open at least a bank account were unsuccessful, since my circumstances with a status as a jobseeker staying in the UK as a visitor, not having a rented house/flat/room were not contributing enough. Not having a registered/rented address contributed to the complexity to get a DBS certificate needed by an employer. 

My mother became very ill at this time. I had sold my house in Sweden, due to which I wanted to visit India straight away to arrange and pay for her surgery and help my brother with her care.

I was getting calls from my mom to visit her in India, but this could affect my application to get any support from the Job Centre. So I had to choose between seeing my mum, or persevering with finding a job and accommodation in the UK.

Unfortunately, my mom did not make it. When I landed to see my mom, the day after, my partner could not survive (in EU), since I failed to arrange any accommodation for us here and give care to look after. I experienced a lot of loss in a short period of time and spent a few months supporting my family and grieving in India.

When I came back to the UK in January 2020, I couldn’t find any accommodation. I had exhausted my savings, had run out of options. I spent nights at a shelter where I got abused several times by strangers, but volunteered during the day, worked with kind families who also wanted to help me. 

It was the darkest period of my life and it pains me to think about the loss of my mother, partner, and loss of my valuables & ID documents, due to people who took advantage of others, offering to help in bad faith and exploiting vulnerable people. I had many bad experiences which tested me, in a short period of time. I wondered if there really was any help out there, people who genuinely cared about marginalised people.

I was fortunate to have some cross my path. With the help of a kind supportive volunteer at one of the charities I was helping, I got a job in a Nursing Home. I got a job offer in March 2020, and in my first week on the job, my manager was in isolation, having been exposed to Covid-19. Everything in the world was uncertain, but I was grateful to be able to help others through this. 

As soon as I got my job, I found accommodation straight away. I spent the pandemic helping others, trying to make life easier for those vulnerable, who need it the most. I lived through dark times, and I still find it difficult finding my roots here. I’m now in my second job with the NHS, in a permanent position where I train new staff. 

I think back to all those months where no one could guide me, at least a little bit, while I got myself on my feet. I see every day how much the NHS needs hard working people and I wonder how many people are out there struggling, needing just the right guidance at the right time, to be able to make a huge difference to our society. 

In my job, I come across many people who are vulnerable and need support - British people, EU citizens, and other migrants too. I wish we had a system to bring us together just in time. Sometimes I feel how broken we are individually, despite our strong beliefs, ethics, and values. But being together we can make each other stronger. Together we can make a big difference to society. 

Through this campaigning programme, I hope to find a sense of community, have interesting conversations, and contribute to people’s understanding of EU citizens. We all have different skills and contributions to bring and it’s important to me this is recognised.