Get Help
This guide is general information and cannot take account of your own circumstances. The organisations below can, most of them free of charge.
If you are at a police station now#
You have the right to free legal advice, whatever your immigration status. You also have the right to have someone told you have been arrested, and the right to an interpreter. You can ask for a solicitor with experience of protest cases rather than using the duty solicitor, and tell whichever solicitor you get that you have leave to remain.
Immigration advice#
Immigration advice is regulated. Only advisers registered with the Immigration Advice Authority, or authorised by another legal regulator, may lawfully give it.
Check an adviser is registered: portal.immigrationadviceauthority.gov.uk
Free advice if you qualify for legal aid: Civil Legal Advice, gov.uk/civil-legal-advice
Find a solicitor: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk
Law centres: lawcentres.org.uk
Legal aid for immigration matters is limited and the rules change. Check with the organisation directly rather than assuming you do or do not qualify.
Organisations#
JCWI. Free confidential helpline on 0800 160 1004, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am to 1pm. jcwi.org.uk
Right to Remain. A detailed toolkit on the immigration and asylum system. righttoremain.org.uk
Bail for Immigration Detainees. Advice for people held in immigration detention. biduk.org
Migrants' Rights Network. A campaigning organisation rather than an advice service. Publishes a know your rights guide and a list of local anti-raids groups. migrantsrights.org.uk
The following are protest support organisations rather than immigration advisers. They publish guidance on police powers and maintain lists of solicitors who take protest cases.
Green and Black Cross. greenandblackcross.org
Netpol. netpol.org
Liberty. libertyhumanrights.org.uk
Finding out what is held about you#
You can ask the police and the Home Office for a copy of the personal data they hold about you, free of charge. The Information Commissioner's Office explains how: ico.org.uk