In this interview by MSc student in International Development, Gender and globalisation Jenifer Elmslie, Mustafa Ali discusses his experience leaving Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor at the age of 13, and his 10-year journey to gain asylum in the United Kingdom. Ali discusses his journey to graduate from Cambridge University in 2017with a degree in Architecture. He talks about the difficulties he encountered during his time studying for his undergraduate degree while simultaneously attempting to secure the right to stay in the UK. He discusses how the UK government’s heavily politicised and hostile domestic policies towards immigration have affected the right of asylum seekers to seek refuge in this country.