Legal advice

This page explains how you can find a qualified person to advise you on the legal aspects of your asylum application. For details of the other types of advice available to asylum applicants, see Help and advice.

A legal representative is someone who can advise you on the laws that apply to your application for asylum, and help you to deal with the UK Border Agency.

If you want to employ a legal representative, you should make sure you use either a solicitor (a qualified lawyer who is a member of the Law Society) or an adviser who is officially regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). This will ensure that your representative is properly qualified to advise you and meets approved standards.

All advisers (or the organisations they belong to) registered with the OISC should display its logo (which you can see on its website through the link given above). The OISC can give you a list of those organisations and they are also listed on its website. You can phone the OISC on 0845 000 0046.

Your case owner can give you information on finding a legal representative. Or phone Community Legal Advice on 0845 345 4345 for information on legal representatives in your area. It has translators who can speak to you in a number of languages. Its website has a directory of legal advisers that you can search to find one in your area.

If you have no money to pay for a legal representative, you may qualify for free advice through an official scheme known as legal aid. Community Legal Advice can tell you more about this.

If you want your legal representative to attend your asylum interview, you should find one quickly, because your case owner will not normally delay the interview while you do so. A legal representative who is claiming legal aid on your behalf may not be able to attend your asylum interview, so you should ask him or her about this.