Six refugee families who have lived on a British base in Cyprus for more than 17 years are seeking a judicial review of the government’s refusal to allow them to move to the UK.

The families – some of whom have had children while living in an isolated corner of a British military base at Dhekelia, on Cyprus’s south-east coast – believe the UK’s stance is contrary to their rights under the 1951 refugee convention.

Since 1998 they have been involved in a legal saga with the British government, which wants them to move to Cypriot territory. But their plight has been thrown into sharp relief with the arrival at the base of hundreds of new asylum seekers from Syria.

Tag Bashir, 44, a builder who fled Sudan’s civil war, has had three children while living in an area of the Dhakelia base called Richmond Village. He arrived in 1998 when a boat carrying asylum seekers bound for Italy foundered off the coast; he and others were rescued and brought to a second British sovereign base on Cyprus, Akrotiri.

Refugees in detention at the Dhekelia British military base in Cyprus. Photograph: Nathan Morley/Rex Shutterstock

The administration of Britain’s two sovereign base areas (SBAs) tried to pass on the refugees to the Cypriot authorities, but was told the migrants were Britain’s responsibility. Their status as refugees was accepted by the British government in 1999, and in 2000 and they were moved from a detention centre to Richmond Village at Dhekelia, in accommodation built for married soldiers.

When a year later some of them tried to move to the UK they were refused permission, and ever since Bashir says his life has been “wasted” in the SBA, with no opportunity to work or build a life for his children. However, he hopes a judicial review in March of the families’s cases may finally provide them with a permanent home in the UK.

“All the experience I had had in my life is here,” he said. “When I came to the SBA I was 26 years old. I was ready to work. I was young and had my whole future in front of me. I speak Greek, Russian, Arabic and English fluently. I am a skilled builder but I have had no proper work.

“For 17 years I have been trying to work, to build a life for my family but there is nothing. My life has been wasted … We haven’t got any guarantees from the Republic of Cyprus and we will not go there.

“It is not right for our children to grow up in the SBA and I am most worried about them … I am worried about how all the uncertainty is affecting the children and their outlook on life … If we were given entry to the UK we would all do our best to participate and integrate into UK society. I would work so hard, it would be my pleasure to work.”

Bashir and the other refugees arrived on the island several years before a memorandum of understanding was signed between Cyprus and the UK that means that the Republic of Cyprus processes asylum applications of individuals who arrived on the basis after 2003.

Tessa Gregory, of Leigh Day solicitors, acting for the six families, said the Home Office’s refusal to allow his clients entry to the UK is in breach of its legal obligation under the 1951 refugee convention.

“Our clients are recognised refugees who have been living in legal limbo on British territory for over 17 years. It is astonishing that the UK has allowed this situation to fester for so long. We can only hope the recent arrivals do not suffer the same fate.”

Bashir and the others have been living in houses that contain asbestos and were due to be demolished in 1990.

In 2005 he said the SBA authorities tried to pressure the refugees to leave, making their lives intolerable – closing down the school, destroying the playground and removing access to medical services.

Documents submitted for the court hearing next year reveal that the officials at the sovereign British base have consistently believed the only solution for the families is to move to the UK.

James Gondelle, administrative secretary for the sovereign bases in Cyprus, said in 2009: “We remain convinced that entry to the UK will ultimately prove to be the only solution.”

But the Home Office has repeatedly refused to take the advice. The Home Office said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on any ongoing legal proceedings.”