Trustees

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit’s prime purpose is to provide legal advice in immigration, asylum, nationality, and human rights law. We have a national reputation for both the quality of our legal advice work and for our campaigning to change an unjust system. Our main base is in Crumpsall, Manchester and we provide services to people across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and Lancashire.

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit was established in 1989 following a community-led movement to challenge racism and to support people affected by immigration control. This year we will be celebrating our 30^th anniversary. We are one of the few organisations that has been able to survive the changes of the last thirty years: this experience has shaped us into a resilient, diverse, and sustainable organisation.

Our work is a practical commitment to social justice; we work to protect and support people who face extraordinary pressures in very difficult circumstances. We are one of the largest not-for-profit immigration legal advice services in the UK: in the last year we provided free, immigration legal advice and representation, and support to over 6000 people. GMIAU is the leading immigration advice agency in the North West and we have a national reputation for our professionalism, knowledge and commitment to fighting for justice.

In the last 12 months we have represented over 1000 people who arrived in the UK to claim protection from countries where there is war and persecution.  200 of these were unaccompanied children who have made it to the UK on their own. Every day we support people who have nowhere to live and nothing to live on. As well as our legal casework we run a number of services that provide additional support and help to people as they try to make their way through the challenges and hostility of the UK immigration system. We have a refugee family reunion project, in partnership with the British Red Cross; we run a group for young people who are on their own to counter the isolation that many experience; we run drop-in services and provide advice sessions in community settings; we’re currently working with local authorities to make sure that the rights of EU children in care and leaving care are protected if or when the UK leaves the European union; and we support families and others who are in need and who have ‘no recourse to public funds’.

I left Iraq when I was 14 when terror came to my village. My mother and father used all their savings to pay for me to get out of the country and to find safety. When I was assessed by the Home Office I told them my age but they didn’t believe me. I had a beard and my face was brown from being in the sun all day.

I was sent to Liverpool to live in a hostel. I felt lonely and a bit scared. I missed home very much. After a few weeks I was moved to another area and shared a house with 4 others. It was always dirty but it was ok because I got a place at college to do ESOL. My mother was very proud when I told her.

Then one day the housing manager came and said I had to leave the house. My asylum application had been refused. I didn’t know what to do, I had nowhere to go so II refused to go anywhere. Then the boss from Serco came to tell me to leave but when she arrived she asked how old I was. I told her I was 14 and she believed me. She called GMIAU and spoke with Maria who helps people in my situation. I went to see her the next day and she arranged for me to see a social worker who also contacted the Home Office. Going to GMIAU was the first time anyone had listened to me and believed what I said. They looked after me and made sure I didn’t get evicted. Social services believed my age and moved me into a foster home. GMIAU took on my case and I got accepted by the Home Office as a refugee. 

See our Impact Report 2018 for further details about our work .

We want people who believe in what we are doing, who are committed to social justice more generally, and can help us to do it better. Some experience of the challenges faced by non-profit organisations would be helpful but is not essential. More important is your commitment to ensuring the rights of people seeking asylum are protected.

We are looking for people who have skills in: organisation management and development, finance, property/estate management, fundraising, communications and marketing, legal advice, immigration law or any of the other many other types of knowledge and skills necessary to run a complex charity with a turnover of approximately £1million and 23 staff.

If you are interested and would like an informal discussion about what’s involved in being a trustee with GMIAU please contact Denise McDowell, Chief Executive denise@gmiau.org