By Johnny Orr

The UK’s new Labour government are enforcing stricter migration laws that have been enforced since April this year, these laws increased the minimum yearly salary for ‘skilled workers’ from £26,200 to £38,700. With Visa laws currently changing year on year the struggles for immigrants in the UK never seem to go away, the new laws will likely see many immigrants struggle to stay in the UK and will certainly mean far less families will be able to come to Scotland seeking a better life.

“definitely join a club, it gets you out the house and active maybe even four times a week, we all know the mental health benefits of sport so its really important to do something like that for sure.”

Sport can be fantastic way for immigrants to meet new people, build communities and settle into a new country. In a challenging time for those seeking refuge in the UK, sport is often used as an escape and in many circumstances can drastically change immigrants outlook on life in a new country.

Daniel Okungbowa, 23, is a Scottish immigrant. Originally from Nigeria, Daniel spent most of his childhood living in Italy, but in 2017 at age sixteen his family decided to move to Scotland for a better quality of life and to escape the poor economy in Italy. Daniel found it difficult at first as he struggled to make new friends and didn’t fit in at high school. Sometimes Daniel considered quitting the sport he loves “I did consider stopping, but i just thought i need to join a team!, I need to make new friends and settle into life in Scotland and volleyball really helped me with that”. Daniel said: “I’m so happy i decided to keep playing, Volleyball helped me so much and now I know that lots of my teammates are going to be friends for life.”

Daniel’s talent for volleyball was spotted very quickly in Scotland and he was taken to Glasgow team Su Ragazzi’s training. It wasn’t long before he was in the men’s first team and seen as one of the top players in the Scottish game.

With his now high profile in the game Daniel is in the frame for the national team, but issues surrounding his passport means that he is not yet eligible to play for Scotland. Daniel says: “Of course I would love to represent my country and Scotland, it’s just at the minute there is far to many processes I would need to go through to make that happen, if I didn’t have to pay and it was made easier for me then yeah I would 100% play for Scotland.”