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Content Type: Advocacy
We wrote to the Home Office as part of our campaign ‘STOP SPYING ON ASYLUM SEEKERS’, opposing the draconian surveillance of asylum seekers taking place through the Aspen Card.
We asked detailed questions about how data collected from Aspen Card usage is used to monitor asylum seekers, and how the Home Office are alerted to any ‘breach of conditions’ of the card.
In their reply, the Home Office told us that:
“The Home Office can be alerted to a breach of conditions by several internal and…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Last week, Privacy International intervened in an important and long overdue Judicial Review into the UK Home Office’s secret and blanket policy of seizing mobile phones of all migrants who arrived to the UK by small boat between April 2020 and November 2020.
The case revealed that migrants were searched on arrival at Tug Haven in Dover and compelled to hand over their mobile phones and provide their PIN numbers. During the course of proceedings it came to light that the Home Office had self-…
Content Type: Advocacy
Dear Home Secretary,
We are writing to you to demand urgent reform of how asylum seekers across the country are placed under surveillance through the very same device that is supposed to provide basic subsistence support to them.
As you know the Aspen Card is a kind of debit card given to asylum seekers, on which about £39 is credited every week to cover their basic subsistence needs. But, reportedly, the Aspen card is also used to closely monitor asylum seekers and how they spend…
Content Type: Explainer
The UK Home Office provides basic subsistence support to people who are in the process of applying for asylum, as well as to those whose applications have been refused and are appealing their cases, in the form of an ‘Aspen Card’ - basically it’s a debit payment card, which can be used in any shop that accepts VISA debit payments. At the time of writing the programme is managed by corporate giant corporate giant Sodexo, but the administration of the payment system is soon going to go to a new…
Content Type: Video
Performed by an actor, this video is based on the real life testimony, transcribed below, of a UK asylum seeker's experience of using their Home Office issued 'Aspen Card' debit payment card.
I arrived in the UK in 2009 and I have been living here for over ten years now. I have used both the Aspen Card and the card that was issued by the Home Office before that, the Azure Card. When I was released from immigration detention I was destitute because I am not allowed to work and that’s…
Content Type: Video
Performed by an actor, this video is based on the real life testimony, transcribed below, of a UK asylum seeker's experience of using their Home Office issued 'Aspen Card' debit payment card.
I came to the UK from a country in Africa because I was fleeing persecution for religious reasons. When I first came to England I was caught by the police, placed in detention before then being released into a hostel. When I was in the hostel I was given my Aspen Card, while I was applying for…
Content Type: Video
Performed by an actor, this video is based on the real life testimony, transcribed below, of a UK asylum seeker's experience of using their Home Office issued 'Aspen Card' debit payment card.
I came to the UK to claim asylum from a country in the Middle East because of the political situation in my country. In order to get away, I walked from where I live all the way to the Turkish border by foot, crossing the mountains. I stayed in Turkey only a short while and then took two…