We offer help to refugees and asylum seekers in four key ways
The All Saints Drop-in
We run a “Drop-In” for asylum seekers in Portsmouth. This operates once a week and people can come and go at will and have access to various professional services without charge or appointment.
Tea, coffee, fruit and sandwiches are available free of charge so people can have a drink and meet their friends while they wait to see someone. Some people come very single-mindedly to see one of the professionals but others drop-in simply to have a coffee and meet their friends. That’s fine by us.
The Drop In is supported by Citizens Advice Portsmouth, who can offer free legal advice in certain circumstances and Stephen Morgan MP, whose team attend on the first Thursday of every month.
Click here to read more about the All Saints drop-in.
Tea, coffee, fruit and sandwiches are available free of charge so people can have a drink and meet their friends while they wait to see someone. Some people come very single-mindedly to see one of the professionals but others drop-in simply to have a coffee and meet their friends. That’s fine by us.
The Drop In is supported by Citizens Advice Portsmouth, who can offer free legal advice in certain circumstances and Stephen Morgan MP, whose team attend on the first Thursday of every month.
Click here to read more about the All Saints drop-in.
All Saints Drop In supported by Citizens Advice Portsmouth.
Access to Justice
Through our Access to Justice project we provide free advice on immigration law, one of only two organisations in the city that does so. Our Access to Justice office is now at the University of Portsmouth with whom the project is a collaboration. You can read more about it at the link below.
Click here to read more about the Access to Justice Project.
Click here to read more about the Access to Justice Project.
Destitution fund
We run a destitution fund to help destitute asylum-seekers that we meet in the community. Asylum seekers receive at best 70% of the official British benefits and some don’t receive anything at all. They are rarely allowed to work. In some cases asylum seekers are homeless and without any financial means to support themselves. The destitution fund ensures that those most vulnerable asylum seekers can access support and meet their basic needs.
Awareness raising
Consciousness-raising in the wider community is part of our remit:
- Meetings are held in a large number of local churches.
- Lectures are given at local colleges.
- Articles are published in the local press and a number of MPs are lobbied about specific cases..
Our history
The Visitors Group was founded in 1994 and became a registered a charity in January 2000. Although many members were originally from churches, the organisation itself is secular and there are now visitors from all backgrounds.
We changed our name to Friends Without Borders in 2014 to reflect the variety of the work we do and opened a new project Access to Justice to offer high quality legal advice to our clients. In April 2015, Haslar Immigration and Removal Centre closed and we re-focused our efforts on our two remaining projects.
We changed our name to Friends Without Borders in 2014 to reflect the variety of the work we do and opened a new project Access to Justice to offer high quality legal advice to our clients. In April 2015, Haslar Immigration and Removal Centre closed and we re-focused our efforts on our two remaining projects.
Friends Without Borders, All Saints Centre, Commercial Road, Portsmouth, PO1 4BT, Phone: 023 9283 9222 mobile 07546 502143
Our registered charity number is: 1194005
Our registered charity number is: 1194005
