March 12, 2005

TIME europe, February 28 2005
A Secret Success
Immigration works far better for Britain than Britons realize. A hard look at the facts
BY J.F.O. MCALLISTER

Farhad Motazedian likes pizza, which is good because his shop makes as many as 80 pies a day. He arrived in Britain four years ago from Iran -- claiming political asylum after getting caught up in antigovernment demonstrations -- and ended up in Leicester, an industrial city 150 km north of London.

For 15 months he shared a small room with two chain smokers in a run-down hotel that housed some 400 other asylum seekers. An experienced and energetic materials engineer, he wasn't permitted to have a job while the authorities considered his case, so he volunteered to work for free food and pocket money at a suburban pizzeria called Roberto's.

"I had to do something. I just wanted to learn," says Motazedian, 35, who also took courses in computer-aided design. After two years the authorities rejected his asylum bid; he appealed, and when he finally won refugee status he received a government check for $6,700 in retroactive income support.

He and a partner then stumped up $8,000 each and borrowed another $8,000 to buy Roberto's and a small apartment upstairs; Motazedian moved into it and kept making those pies. He also enrolled in a doctoral metallurgy program at Leicester University -- and won a full scholarship.

"This is a miracle for me," says Motazedian. He's so busy in the lab that he recently had to sell his share of the pizza joint to his partner, but still lends a hand.

Sent by Sepand Riahi

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