Unity Centre Glasgow

Every week, asylum seekers are detained in Glasgow when they go to report at the Home Office.

People are usually detained only when the Home Office have made all the arrangements necessary to forcibly remove them from the UK such as prepare travel documents and book flights.

This can take quite some time to happen after a person’s case has finished.

Some things you can do if you are worried about being detained:

1. Talk to your lawyer and make sure they are working on your case. Ask them for an ‘Emergency number’ you can use when their office is shut.
2. If you are worried about being detained, make sure your friends and family know this.
3. Make arrangements for what they should do if you are detained. Give someone a set of your house keys so they can collect your valuables and legal documents and keep them safe for you.
4. Make sure to register with the Unity Centre and sign in with them when you go to report.
5. Ask friends and family to come and wait for you when you go to report.

More information

If you wish to have any of this explained please contact us at the Unity Centre.

•  You are usually safe if your asylum case is still going. It is important you keep in contact with your lawyer about this. On some very rare occasions, the Home Office detain people and tell them that their case has been refused at the same time, but this does not happen very often.

• You are also safe if the Home Office have not asked you to bring all your family with you as they do not have enough resources to go and find other people in your family.

• It is quite normal for the Home Office to tell you to bring your family so that travel documents can be made for you and your family. This usually happens if your children were born in the UK and don’t have travel documents / passports for your country of origin or if you did not have any travel documents with you when you arrived in the UK. It is very unlikely that the Home Office will detain you if they have not made travel documents for you. The Home Office are not be allowed to forcibly remove you if travel documents have not been made for you.

• Usually people are only detained about four or five days before the removal flight is due to happen. The Home Office do this deliberately so you do not have much time to talk to your lawyer before the removal flight. Sometimes people can be detained late in the day after many lawyers close for the day or late in the week when their lawyers are shut over the weekend.  Make sure to register with Unity and let them know if you change your lawyer. Ask your lawyer for an out of office hours emergency telephone number you can use to contact them.

• If you are detained they will take your mobile phone away from you but you are usually allowed to phone or leave a message with your lawyer or with a friend.

• Usually, if you are detained you will be told straight away when the removal flight will be and usually you will be given a signed copy of ‘Removal Directions’ which will give the date, time, destination and flight number of the removal flight.

• Normally people are taken to Dungavel detention centre when they are detained in Glasgow unless there is an outbreak of an illness there. If you are not taken to Dungavel you will be taken to a police station in Glasgow. There is supposed to be an agreement that people will be held for three days in Dungavel so that their Scottish lawyers have an opportunity to visit and take action before you are taken to England. There is also an agreement that children will not be held in Dungavel for more than three days.

• Usually you will be held at Brand Street for about two hours before you are taken to Dungavel detention centre. It takes about one hour to drive to Dungavel. It will then take another two hours for you to go through the reception process at Dungavel before you are taken to your room where you will be able to make and receive telephone calls. This means if you are detained you will not be able to make any phone calls for about five hours. DON’T FORGET TO PHONE THE UNITY CENTRE’S 24 HOUR EMERGENCY PHONE: 0141 427 7992

• In Dungavel you will be able to get phone calls from friends and family and you will be able to also buy a mobile phone and £5 credit for £30. Or if the phone you already have does not have a camera you may be able to use it. It is best to get your own mobile phone especially if you are going to be moved to England because the phone systems at other detention centres are not as good as at Dungavel.

• After three days in Dungavel you will be transported, usually by van, to a detention centre close to Heathrow or Gatwick airports near London. Sometimes this can take over 14 hours and you will not be able to talk to anyone including your lawyer whilst you are travelling.

• England has a different legal system from Scotland so sometimes it will be difficult for your Scottish lawyer to help you if you are taken to England.  If you need to change lawyers because you have been taken to England it is difficult to get Legal Aid lawyers when you do not have very much time. Many immigration lawyers in London will not do legal aid cases. It can cost many hundreds of pounds to pay a lawyer and you will need to talk to friends and family about how they can help you pay this. 

 Remember there are many things you can do to help yourself if you are detained - even if you end up without a lawyer to help you - it is crucial you do not give up hope.