Get help as a refugee
If you are a refugee, asylum seeker or vulnerable migrant, the British Red Cross may be able to help you.
This page is available in more languages.
How we can help
We offer help with the urgent needs of refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants. The help we can offer will depend on where you are. It can include:
- food parcels and vouchers
- small amounts of cash
- clothes
- toiletries
- blankets
- baby items.
We may be able to offer further help. Depending on your circumstances and where you live this may include:
- travel vouchers
- benefits and career advice
- health care – registering with a GP or dentist
- coming with you to appointments
- adjusting to life in the UK
- orientation – getting to know your local area
- emotional support
- reuniting family.
Find your local refugee service
When you contact us, one of our trained caseworkers will assess your needs to see if we can help. If we can't, we will refer or signpost you to a service that can.
We will provide an interpreter if you do not speak English.
We are not political or religious, we won't report you to the authorities and our help is free and confidential.
How to use your local service
How you get our help depends on where you are. Contact your nearest refugee service to find out if you:
- walk in (if it’s a drop-in centre)
- make an appointment
- need to be referred from another organisation.
Have you used this service before?
If you have been trafficked
We may be able to help if you are a refugee or asylum seeker who has been trafficked.
As well as the help you get as a refugee, we can also give support and advice on what to do next and where to get more help if you have been trafficked.
Help for young refugees
You can get help in some areas of the UK if you are a refugee aged 15 to 25.
Family reunion (restoring family links)
If you are a refugee, we may be able to help you reunite with your family by:
- helping with visa applications
- arranging flights for your family to join you (family reunion travel assistance).
We can only give help applying for family reunion visas in some parts of the UK and there may be a waiting list.
Contact your local service to find out if they offer family reunion help.
Download our guide to family reunion (PDF)
We can also help you to find missing relatives abroad if you have been separated by war, natural disaster or migration.
