Food banks: Bob couldn't afford the visa application fee, so lost his job and couldn't earn a living

Before Covid, Bob, from Jamaica, was working as a chef in Edinburgh and had started his own catering business.

He managed to survive through the first lockdown in 2020, but the second lockdown towards the end of the year hit him hard.

Bob says he was embarrassed when he first went to the food bank, but he was not made to feel like a 'loser' | Edinburgh Food Project

"It completely crippled my business and I just couldn't make ends meet. My visa ran out in 2021 and I didn't have the money to pay for the application - I think it was £1,800 at that time. I had so many bills to pay and everything was piling up.

"I lost my job with the chef agency when the visa expired, so I couldn't work. I only survived because of members of the church and friends who helped me."

He fell into rent arrears and was served with an eviction notice, but someone from the housing association helped him secure financial help. "I never wanted to be asking for stuff because people in Britain often complain that foreigners come and take the resources."

And eventually he was pointed to the food bank run by Edinburgh Food Project at the Thistle Foundation's Centre for Wellbeing in Craigmillar.

"The first time I went to the foodbank I just went in and out and kept quiet. It was the shame - I've never had to ask for anything, I'd always worked for myself. It was an embarrassment. And I could see many people at the foodbank who had that same look - they must have had a life intact and they fell into bad circumstances.

"But they didn't let me feel like I was a loser, they understand what it's all about at the food project."

Bob was frustrated at not being able to work. "I'm a person who loves to be doing something. From 2021 to 2024 I was not able to do much at all. It impacts your mental health."

Bob has been in the UK since 1999, has a degree in health studies from Edinburgh University and trained at catering college.

He says he has been close to getting residency before, but then the qualifying period has been increased. "Every time when I nearly reach the milestone when I could apply for some residency, they shift the goalposts, so you never get there."

But now he says he is back on track. In February, after 16 months of waiting, he got his visa and was able to resume his work as a chef. "I hadn't been in a kitchen for so long, but now it's awesome. I'm in my element again. Now I'm paying tax and I'm paying my rent and council tax and everything is coming together.

"I've started working and contributing, which is what I always wanted, and I'm happy again.”

He doesn't use the foodbank any more, but he has kept his contact with it and is part of the Experts by Experience panel which organised an election hustings and put questions to candidates about what they would do to change things for people in hardship.

And Bob is clear about what he would like to see. "They need to create a system where people who are already here are given a temporary visa to allow them to work.

“There's something about getting paid for what you do that empowers you - you can buy what you want to eat, there's a level of self sufficiency that starts to develop, and they would pay tax, so it would save money for the government.”