Asif, Afghanistan

Asif was the first of a group of Afghan interpreters who contacted Refugees Welcome when he arrived in 2011. Read more about our special focus on Afghan interpreters which ran over a decade and peaked with the evacuation in 2021 and the Special Act for Afghans.

Read the longer story about another Afghan interpreter, Aman. 

Asif had worked for the Norwegian forces and intended to seek asylum in Norway but was apprehended on the train en route. He was denied asylum by the Danish Immigration Service and was only saved by the Refugee Appeals Board thanks to our guidance and one of the most skilled asylum lawyers in Denmark.

The processing time for his asylum case ended up being over 3 years, one of the reasons for the delay being that both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian military had to be consulted. Despite being able to document his employment as an interpreter, it was very difficult to convince the authorities that he had received death threats from the Taliban—they wanted confirmation from his Norwegian superior officer.

He became a good friend of RW and Trampoline House, where he helped translate for other asylum seekers and shared his story in various forums, but the long wait nearly broke him. During that time, however, he managed to complete an education in IT at KEA, Business Academy Copenhagen.

After receiving asylum, he participated in the theatre production “Welcome to Denmark”, which was based on 4 real cases from the Refugee Appeals Board, written in collaboration with the professor in asylum law Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen.

Today, Asif lives in a town in Sjælland, is married and works as a social and healthcare assistant.