RLS launches its new CrowdJustice Campaign!
RLS is today launching its new CrowdJustice Campaign: Brexit is making life harder for refugees: we need your help!
We aim to raise £10,000-£20,000 by the end of April to cover costs related to family reunion to the UK as well as to continue funding our operations in Athens, Lesvos and London.
Please share and donate!
What’s at stake?
Brexit is already creating harsh challenges for displaced people. Those in the EU with families in the UK are now left with few options and face a difficult path to being reunited, safely, with their loved ones.
Lyla’s story:
Lyla, a mother with four children on the island of Lesvos in Greece is seeking to be reunited with her husband who is an asylum seeker in the UK. Before Brexit, she would have been able to make a free, straightforward application to join him with free legal help from our lawyers in Greece all through the Greek asylum procedure.
Now, she has to:
Deal with the UK authorities
Find a lawyer in the UK to advise her on her options
Pay for DNA evidence (approx. £600-2,500)
Travel with her children to Athens to attend the Visa Application Centre (ferry tickets approx. £400)
Stay at a hotel for one night in Athens (approx. £100)
Pay the VISA application fee (up to £1,590)
Pay for official translations of documents (up to £300)
If her application is successful, she will have to pay for her and her children's tickets to the UK (up to £500)
Total: up to £5,500
Can we help?
NOW: We want to provide everyone who is now trapped in Europe and has family in the UK with free guidance for their next steps in their journey to family reunion in the UK. We want to help people navigate the UK immigration rules and receive the attention and advice they deserve.
ULTIMATELY: Our goal is to secure free advice and representation for as many people as possible and to ensure they are in a position to cover the extremely high costs involved in a family reunion application.
This is a challenge we are confident we can achieve with your support.
RLS has assisted over 700 people with your support over the last four years. Today, in addition to our work at the Athens clinic, we are working on the island of Lesvos, have a pool of volunteer lawyers in London and are building more connections in Northern France. This means we can be even more ambitious about the help and advice we can provide.
We wouldn't be here without you. Thank you so much for your support and solidarity!
Photo by Kevin Butz on Unsplash
