44    Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned that this evidence was not enough and did not amount to a fresh claim. Recently, the Red Cross contacted the Ethiopian embassy to request written confirmation that Joshua had visited it. Eight months later, no response has been received. Joshua has made several attempts to apply for assisted voluntary return (AVR). However, his return has not been possible. Most recently, he contacted the Home Office Voluntary Departure team, who say they are trying to facilitate his return. Joshua is desperate to find a solution to his longterm life in limbo and is willing to return to Ethiopia or Tanzania. He currently cannot be returned to either country. completed and signed application form, photos and travel tickets provided by the Home Office. In addition, in the absence of documentation, he must provide two witness declarations from Algerian nationals, registered at the consulate in London, testifying that he is an Algerian national. Samir does not know any Algerian nationals, so it has not been possible for him to find a witness to confirm his Algerian nationality. The Red Cross has tried to assist him with finding witnesses, but none of these enquiries has been successful. On the advice of his solicitor, in 2015, Samir submitted further evidence for his asylum claim based on statelessness. However, this evidence was not considered since he was told that he had not followed the correct format. He should have been advised to make a Stateless application. Qareen is 44 years old and comes from Palestine. He has no documents to prove his nationality. Samir is now seeking advice on making a Stateless application, but there is no legal aid to do this. Samir is trapped in the UK and simply wants to leave. Samir’s story Violet’s story Samir is 36 years old and comes from Algeria. His parents died when he was a child. Samir moved to Belgium when he was 14 years old and ended up in a children’s home. He ran away from the home, but continued living in Belgium for 17 years before coming to the UK five years ago. Samir has no passport or ID from Algeria or Belgium. For over three years, Samir has been trying to leave the UK. He applied for AVR twice. Both of these applications expired since he was unable to get a travel document from the Algerian consulate within the three-month validity of the application. The Home Office refused to grant him an extension of time to do this. Violet is 49 years old; she is from Zimbabwe and came to the UK nearly 13 years ago. She has no identity documents and is therefore unable to obtain a Zimbabwean passport. Violet has applied for leave to remain in the UK based on statelessness, despite having no access to legal aid. Her family had to scrape together the money to help her fund a solicitor in order to apply. She is awaiting the outcome of this application. Qareen’s story Samir has been to the Algerian consulate five times to try to apply for a travel document to return to Algeria. Samir has completed the travel document application and, on one occasion, the Red Cross arranged for a volunteer from a local organisation to accompany him. She provided photos and a written statement of the visit. However, the Algerian consulate will still not cooperate because Samir has no ID. They advised that he should return to the consulate with a Zareb’s story Zareb is 29 years old and was born in Darfur, Sudan. He came to the UK with his birth certificate and both of his parents’ passports. However, these documents have been confiscated by the Home Office as they are believed to be counterfeit. The embassy does not believe Zareb to originate from Sudan. Zareb is now without his documents, so he cannot take them to an expert for independent verification. He cannot establish his nationality with the Sudanese embassy or even begin enquiries to obtain a travel document to allow him to return home.