"You've got the visa, now work it out for yourself," the border police told former French Army interpreter Abdul Hai Sattary from Afghanistan when he arrived at Charles de Gaulle International Airport outside Paris on July 24. By that time, he had already spent hours wandering around the airport, not knowing where he, his handicapped wife and their two sons would stay for the night.

"I was looking for help, and by the end of the morning I'd found a woman who worked for the Red Cross. She told us that since we had visas, we couldn't apply for asylum, and so she couldn't do anything for us," he told InfoMigrants.

Increasingly stressed about the situation, Sattary finally called a former colleague of his, who had also worked as an interpreter for the French Army and has lived in France for the last ten years. "My friend Najib lives in Nantes. He immediately told us to catch the train and come to his place," Sattary explained. The family spent a total of five days in Najib's home in Nantes before the French emergency services finally put them up in a hotel at the beginning of August. 

"We have a roof over our heads and breakfast is included, but we don't have a kitchen, and so we eat as little as possible so as not to starve to death," says the father-of-two, who each week collects milk, tinned food and bread from the French food distribution network Restos du cœur.

Fleeing from the Taliban

"I gave five years of my life to the French army and two to the American military. I don't understand how they can let us live like this," Sattary says despairingly, describing how he was forced to leave his homeland after the Taliban threatened to kill him because of his collaboration with foreign forces.

But Sattary's situation is not unique: 15 Afghans arrived with their families in France in total this summer after having received visas, having previously worked for the French armed forces. To date, none of them have received any kind of help from French social services.

Since 2013, Paris has taken in 225 former French army workers from Afghanistan as well as the 500 women and children accompanying them. 

'They should all receive the same help'

But there have been more successful cases in the past: At the end of 2018, 54 families arrived from Afghanistan after being handed ten-year residence permits. They were also given social housing and some were handed so-called Active Solidarity Incomes (RSA).

However, none of the families that arrived in August 2019 have received any of those benefits.

"In theory, they should all receive the same help; so it's definitely a case of double standards on behalf of the government," says Caroline Decroix, vice president of an association that represents Afghan interpreters who have worked for the French Army. In contrast to previous arrivals, the latest group were only granted visas after appealing an earlier court ruling that had rejected their demand.

Waiting for seven years

Sattary says he spent four years fighting the first court ruling, and was only granted a visa after the government was ordered to reexamine the case within the framework of "the protection of public servants".  

"Most of them were hired directly by the French Army. They had contracts. They should therefore be considered public servants and protected as such if they are threatened by anyone, which is the case here," explains Sophia Toloudi, a lawyer representing Jamil Baher, one of the Afghans who won recourse to public funds.

Baher had worked as a handyman for the French army in Afghanistan and arrived with his wife and three young children on August 4. Just like the Sattary family, they found themselves left to their own devices when it came to both accommodation and food, and had to rely on the help of a fellow Afghan. After local politicians got involved in the case, however, Baher was eventually moved to a two-bedroom apartment in the town of Blanzy, in central France. 

Others are currently helping him find an apartment in the town of Chalon, so that Baher and his family can live closer to other Afghans.

Government wants to discourage visa applications

According to Decroix, the reason why France has cut its help to former French army workers is because "they want to discourage others from appealing in order to get a French visa. It's absurd."

"This won't stop the stream of litigation coming through, because regardless of what awaits them upon their arrival [in France], these people are living under a real threat in Afghanistan. They have no choice but to leave."

More Afghan migrants expected to arrive

Said Abbas is one of the Afghans still waiting to receive his visa. In June 2019, he was targeted during a nighttime attack when two gunmen opened fire at his Kabul home.

Decroix says at least 40 similar cases are still pending French court case decisions, and that about 10 more Afghans have filed requests for lawyers. In September, a new group Afghans is expected to land in France having recently been granted visas.

Neither France's defence ministry nor the prime minister's office have responded to InfoMigrants' request for comment on the issue.