An Exploration of Undocumented Punjabi Migrants’ Experiences of Travelling to the United Kingdom

Despite undocumented migrants receiving increasing political attention globally, they are neglected in research and clinical practice. The existing literature has uncovered some interesting findings regarding undocumented migrants more generally; however, undocumented Punjabi migrants who appear to make up one of the largest groups in the UK have not been explored prior to this study. Therefore, taking into account the gap in the literature, the present research aimed to understand how undocumented Punjabi migrants made sense of their experiences of coming to the UK and how they communicated this through narrative storytelling. The study adopted a narrative analysis methodology to explore the undocumented Punjabi migrants’ journeys to the UK. Eight undocumented Punjabi migrant men were interviewed and the storylines for each of these men were presented. Analysis at the personal level unearthed five dual narratives; the dreamers who were also escaping some form of oppression, the experience of powerlessness and resilience, feelings of helplessness and hopefulness, feeling supported and unsupported, and lastly being identified as faujis or freshies but equally trying to ‘camouflage’ themselves in their surroundings. Inter-personal level analysis revealed interesting feelings of wanting to be seen as worthy by the researcher, and the positional level analysis highlighted the social characteristics of the researcher and how this further shaped the narratives shared. All these levels were embedded within the wider ideological context. The stories uncovered the high level of complex mental health needs of these men and their experiences of transgenerational trauma are positioned in the wider, post-colonial context. Furthermore, their lack of access to the national healthcare system raises serious public health concerns. The clinical implications and future research are also discussed.