How to get advice from Asylum Aid

Asylum Aid offers free legal advice and representation. The best way to reach our services is through our advice line. We do not have drop-in services.

Our caseworkers are regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner and accredited by the Legal Services Commission.

 

Advice Line: 0207 354 9264

Our advice line offers free one-off advice to individual asylum-seekers and organisations working with them.

It operates on Mondays 2.00 pm – 4:30pm and Thursdays 10.00 am –12:30pm.

When you call our advice line we will assess the facts of your case. If we need more details we may ask you to send us papers so that we can look through them. Our casework team meet every Wednesday to decide which new cases meet our criteria for representation. If we cannot help you we will tell you either in writing or by phone if it is urgent.

If you wish to refer a case to Asylum Aid: please read Asylum Aid's Referral Procedure

 

What type of claims can Asylum Aid assist with?

Asylum Aid takes ‘protection claims’. This means claims where someone is seeking protection in the UK based on a real risk of serious harm on return to their home country.

This covers claims for asylum, where the risk of persecution is for one of the reasons set down in the Refugee Convention. It also covers Human Rights claims where there is a risk of serious harm on return home, although the risk may not be for a reason set down in the Refugee Convention. See further information about the reasons for Refugee Convention and Human Rights claims.

Asylum Aid specialises in ‘gender claims’. This means claims by women and girls seeking protection from the types of harm to which women are exclusively or disproportionately subject. Women's political activities often take a different form, perhaps giving shelter or food to those in hiding or refusing to abide by restrictions such as dress codes. Women also face forms of persecution that are particular to them. These include domestic violence, rape, sexual violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, from which they are unable to get state protection.

We also specialise in fresh claims for people who have exhausted their appeal rights.

We represent cases from initial application to the tribunal stage. We are able to do bail applications and we offer our services to asylum-seekers in England and Wales (not Northern Ireland or Scotland). We do not offer legal services to the High Court or the Court of Appeal.

 

Cases that Asylum Aid does not do 

  • General immigration cases, for example applications for a visa to enter or remain in the UK.
  • Stand alone Article 8 claims. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for family life. As these claims are not based on risk of serious harm on return home they are not ‘protection’ claims.