recognized as a refugee; no one has permanent rights. All carry the red card, at best, and some have had their red cards taken away.”293 He continued: Here the problem of Iraqi Christians is that we are unstable even after 10 or 15 years here. Our rights are completely dead. Our families are not protected. Our children have to work rather than go to school. I am one of the ones qualified to work, but no one will offer me a job. We do degraded work with low wages. Life is very severe. There is no future here, even for our children.294 A 41-year-old engineer from Baghdad who left Iraq in 1995 and is married to a Greek woman but still only holds a red card said that he had a work permit and got a part-time job, but that his employer did not pay him and he was not able to recover the lost wages.295 He lives in fear that his red card will be taken away since his asylum claim was rejected before the 2003 war started and his appeal has never been heard. After marrying his Greek wife, he tried to change his immigration status, and the police at first told him his red card was cancelled before eventually renewing it. “There is no law here,” he said. “Right now, I want to make a business in this country. My wife has money. But I can’t do it with only a red card. And I can’t go to another country because of Dublin. I need to leave Greece because there is no work, but I can’t leave.”296 An Iraqi red card holder described how he has survived in Greece for six years: I work maybe once a week. Sometimes there are no jobs. There might be a hundred people looking for a job and the boss will pick a few lucky ones. I am usually paid 30 Euros for a full day of work. There is a big difference between the pay for Greeks and foreigners. Anywhere you go, if you don’t speak Greek, you are second class… I still have my red card. I’ve been an asylum seeker for six years. I can’t go anywhere. I have no rights. I live in 293 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-37), Athens, June 4, 2008. 294 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-37), Athens, June 4, 2008. 295 A red card does not by itself authorize a registered asylum seeker to work, but is the prerequisite for getting a work permit. Once the person has a red card, she can then go to the hospital for a blood test and x-ray. With the red card and a clean bill of health, she can then go to the tax office and get a tax number after showing her address. After getting the tax number, it is then possible to get a work permit, which is renewable in six month intervals. 296 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-5), Athens, May 23, 2008. 109 Human Rights Watch November 2008