A GLASGOW night shelter is offering refuge to desperate asylum seekers left in limbo as they fight to stay in the UK.

The Unity Centre in Ibrox offers a roof every night to 15 male asylum seekers who have had their applications denied.
There are currently 2000 asylum seekers in Glasgow.
There is no shelter for female asylum seekers.
They aren’t allowed to work, and they can’t receive any benefits so with no way to make any money, asylum seekers who are waiting for their appeals to come through are stuck living as “forgotten people”.
James Nesbitt, a volunteer at the night shelter, said: “A lot of the time they are kind of shadows in our society, they’re almost just forgotten people.
“They’re in limbo with the way they live.
“It’s not really a life, we help the men to survive but having a life is beyond that.
“We struggle to provide more, but we certainly can’t do all of it.”
The centre gives the men a place to sleep and a hot meal every night.
Food is donated by the city’s mosques and temples, and Pret a Manger donates its unsold sandwiches at the end of the day.
On other nights food is cooked by the volunteers .
Phill Jones, manager of the shelter, said they often have to turn people away.
He said: “It’s hard, especially if it’s a cold night.
“Our capacity doesn’t match the need, we’ve asked the church to extend it to 20 a night but at the moment they’ve decided not to, just because they’re worried about the number of people in the building.
“Two thirds of people who make asylum claims are refused and they’re given 21 days before their benefits end and they’re kicked out of accommodation.
“Unless they put in an appeal or they go to the High Court for a judicial review, after 21 days the law states they’re not allowed access to public funds.
“So any organisation that gets money from either central or local government cannot support them.”
This means the Night Shelter relies solely on donations or other charities and cannot take any grants or funding from the government.
Mr Jones said: “We’ve been quite successful at getting guys cases started and back into accommodation, we’ve had three people who have got their papers in the end.”
The night shelter runs from 8pm to 8am, after that the men have to find something to do for 12 hours.
Mr Nesbitt said: “The men find it difficult to find a place to go where they won’t be asked to buy something.
“They go to the libraries.
“Though being in a library every day, I think must leave them bored stiff.”
Muhammad Alam, 32, came to the UK in 2009 to escape the government in his country.
He was forced to flee his home in Bangladesh for opposing its politics.
He said: “They tortured me for two months, physically and mentally.
“They tried to kill me, they shot me, I am still injured in one leg from that.
“I came to the UK in 2009, so I have been here for more than five years, I came to Scotland in January 2013.
“I went to the Scottish Refugee Council when I became homeless and they gave me the information, put me in contact with Phill.”
Before coming to Scotland Alam was in London where he studied Computer Science and Technology.
After graduating he lost his student visa and appealed for leave to remain in the UK, but his request was denied.
He has been using the night shelter since February 2014.
Alam, like many of the men, struggle going between the night shelter and finding somewhere to spend their days.
Mr Nesbitt said: “You can see they’re stressed or depressed and anxious, it can all manifest in negative ways.
“When they arrived here they hoped they were going to be able to make a life for themselves and they’ve not received that welcome, it makes them go into a shell around strangers because they’ve been badly treated.”
“I don’t think they’re here to abuse the system, if anything they’ve been abused by the system.”
Alam hasn’t been in contact with his family for years.
He said: “I don’t even know where they are, and they don’t know where I am.
“Most of them are still in Bangladesh, I have a sister in Canada but no way to contact her either.”
While the service is vital for male asylum seekers, there is currently no shelter for female asylum seekers.
The Unity Centre charity wants to provide a shelter for female asylum seekers and hopes it will be set up in the spring.
Mr Jones said: “We are in discussion with another church and are hoping to have something set up.
“But it’s a little complicated, we think there are fewer women asylum seekers who need housing in the same way.
“This [shelter] has a capacity of 15 but we are looking for a capacity of about six for the women’s shelter.”