JRS UK re-opens new registrations for asylum seekers after pause for pandemic

NEWS

JRS UK re-opens new registrations for asylum seekers after pause for pandemic

Find out how to register with us and check if you are eligible for support

31 July 2020

JRS UK re-opens new registrations for asylum seekers after pause for pandemic

JRS UK is now accepting new registrations from destitute asylum seekers who wish to make use of the practical and emotional support provided over the phone, online and through regular emergency outreach deliveries across London. Registration will now take place exclusively over the phone, and is open to destitute asylum seekers whose cases are finished, and who are not eligible for and not receiving government support or assistance.

We are now pleased to begin accepting new registrations and referrals once again over the phone, however visits to our Day Centre still cannot be made at this time until we are able to re-open safely. In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, we temporarily suspended our weekly drop-in Day Centre, and all our face-to-face services and appointments for the safety of our refugee friends, as well as volunteers and staff. This included a temporary freeze on taking in new visitors and registrations from asylum seekers.


If you or someone you know could benefit from our services, find out how to register with us and check whether you are eligible for support.


Until our Day Centre re-opens, those accompanied by JRS UK who are registered with us, can receive regular packages of food and toiletries, mobile phone credit top-ups, and small hardship grants via a top-up cash card. Deliveries are made to where asylum seekers are living via our Emergency Response Team who follow strict social distancing and COVID-19 health and safety measures.

We also run an over-the-phone emotional support & befriending scheme through which we pair up an asylum seeker with one of our volunteers for regular check-ins. Those registered with us can also access our online activities such as creative writing, community kitchen and prayer groups.

We also continue our work accompanying those who are currently held in Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centres at Heathrow over the phone. Unfortunately the impact of detention continues to affect individuals long after release. JRS UK also run a peer support group that brings together individuals who have experienced immigration detention in the UK. Find more information how to access this support here.

If you are a refugee friend reading this, you can find out how you can register with us. If you have any questions, please give us a call – we would be very pleased to speak with you over the phone.

If you are another organisation in the sector supporting refugees and asylum seekers in these challenging times, and you know of anyone who might benefit from our services, do please get in touch as we are now accepting referrals.

Hospitality and genuine encounter are the cornerstones of our mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of forcibly displaced people. This is why we are very pleased to once again be able to reach and welcome new refugee friends to the JRS community. This is a gradual but important step forward in our journey to continue accompanying asylum seekers as best we can in this difficult time.


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Jesuit Refugee Service UK
The Hurtado Jesuit Centre
2 Chandler Street, London E1W 2QT

020 7488 7310
uk@jrs.net

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