In the last decades, the field of applied linguistics has called for an expanded knowledge on language learning in different learner groups and contexts, including forced migrants and low-literate learners. This article focuses on an under-studied learner group in an under-studied context: low literate adult refugees (LESLLA) subjected to language requirements to ensure their legal status in their host country. We combine the concepts of liminality and emotion to analyze the migrants' narrated experiences of second language learning and linguistic integration. The study draws on interviews with 14 low literate refugees in Norway. The analyses reveal how the learners position themselves towards, and are being positioned by, language learning, education for integration, and formal migration requirements. We argue that within liminal spaces arising in the process towards legal integration, learners are placed in a prolonged state of unsafety and liminality that hamper the conditions and motivation for second language learning.