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Sanctuary Scholars Legal Aid Fund

Upcoming Fundraising Events 

No upcoming fundraising events. 

Update May 2023   

We will soon be welcoming our new STAR and Amnesty fundraising coordinators! In the meantime, if you're keen to get involved as a fundraiser from the start of the the coming academic year, then make sure to sign up to the student fundraising team. 

At our last update, we explained that our current Sanctuary Scholar had been placed under a devastating study ban by the Home Office, Just before their final assessments. The Sanctuary Scholars Legal Aid Fund was able to support them with the huge legal costs associated with fighting the ban, which thankfully has now been lifted. However, we still need to fundraise to cover ongoing legal costs associated with their case. It is predicted they will need between £3000-£4000 in total. Please give what you can to make a difference for the outcome of this scholar, and future scholars alike. 

The Sanctuary Scholars Legal Fund 

Sanctuary Scholars are students living in the UK from refugee and asylum-seeking background who have received a scholarship from the university. 

These students can find themselves facing study bans from the Home Office or ongoing asylum claims which have associated legal fees. Currently the average living cost for a student in Bristol is up to £14,500 per year and the scholarship just meets this figure. The Sanctuary Scholarship also disqualifies students from applying for legal aid in most cases as the individual has to meet specific criteria.

There have been multiple cases of Sanctuary Scholars at Bristol dropping out of studies or taking loans to pay for their ongoing Asylum Claims. This culminated in the Home Office's decision to place a Study Ban on two sanctuary scholars, who were forced to rely on crowdfunding and free legal representation secured by a Law professor to appeal their cases.

Aims 

Students from Bristol SU's Amnesty International and STAR (Student Action for Refugees) have combined forces with the Bristol Students' Union to set up a new Sanctuary Scholar Legal Fund of £25,000 which will be accessible by Sanctuary Scholars who don't qualify for legal aid for any legal costs they may incur which might prevent them from completing their studies. The fundraising is currently ongoing. 

Thank you!

Thank you to our Bristol SU student groups who have donated over £2,500 to the fund. Over 70 different student groups have raised the money through optional donations during the reafilliation process in 2020, 2021 and 2022.