This guide is for professionals working in the Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG) sector who are helping migrant victims of domestic abuse.
VAWG professionals may be providing support to women around the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC).
This guide explains to professionals what support they can provide around the MVDAC and what they are not permitted to do by law.
The basic principle is that professionals cannot give advice about the MVDAC.
The law prohibits professionals from advising on an immigration application unless the professional is a regulated legal adviser, such as a solicitor, or regulated with a body called the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).
The MVDAC is an immigration application which is why it is regulated.
Giving immigration advice when not regulated is a criminal offence, so it is important for VAWG professionals who are helping migrant victims to understand what they can and cannot do in respect of the MVDAC.
While the information in this guide is targeted at VAWG professionals, the law on regulation of immigration advice applies to everyone with very few exceptions. It applies equally to professionals in statutory services, such as the police and social workers, who are also not permitted to provide immigration advice.
What You Cannot Do
- You cannot tell a person that they can or should make an application to the MVDAC. Only a regulated legal adviser can do that.
- You cannot complete an MVDAC application on a person’s behalf and send it to the Home Office. Only a regulated legal adviser can do that.
What You Can Do
Giving information:
- You can give a person published information on the MVDAC and help them understand the information if they have language needs. For example, you can help someone access Rights of Women’s written legal guide on the MVDAC.
- You could even produce information on the MVDAC yourself because providing general information which is not about an individual’s personal circumstances is not advice.
- As long as the information you give does not relate to the individual and their personal circumstances, this is permitted. You must not cross the line and advise a person that they qualify for the MVDAC or that they should apply.
Accessing legal advice:
- You can support a person to get regulated legal advice and help them understand the advice they receive. For example, you can call Rights of Women’s immigration advice line with a person to obtain legal advice for them and take a note during the call so you can go over the advice with them after the call.
- You can explain the advice a person has received from a regulated legal adviser – but if the advice was unclear, you would not be able to fill in the gaps yourself and would need to revert to the regulated legal adviser for clarity.
Form filling:
- If a person has decided to apply to the MVDAC but does not have a legal representative to help them submit the application and are unable to submit the application themselves, you can provide some help including with form filling.
- Here are some examples of what you can do that does not involve advising or representing a person on their MVDAC application:
- As the MVDAC application form is available online, a person may need help accessing the internet or a computer / device to get the form. You can give them access to a computer / device and the internet so they can obtain and complete the form.
- If, when completing the application form on a computer / device, a person lacks the skills or doesn’t feel confident typing their answers themselves, you can help them to type out their answers. You can type for them or check what they have typed, as long as they have decided what to write in the answers – you cannot answer the questions for them or suggest what they might put as an answer.
- A person may not feel confident completing the application form on a computer and may prefer to complete it by hand. You can help them print off the form and scan it once completed so they have it as a pdf to later send by email.
- A person may not feel confident emailing the application form to the Home Office. You can help a person to attach the completed form to an email and make sure it is sent to the correct email address.
- In rare cases, you may be supporting a person who does not have their own email address to submit the application. They can send the application by post, however this does make the application process slower. If they prefer to use email you can help them create an email account.
- The form is in English only. If you are supporting a person who is unable to read confidently in English, you can help by translating the application form. Best practice is to use a professional interpreter rather than relying on friends or family. The interpreter can also be used to translate the person’s responses to the questions on the form so you can write them on the form.
- Even if the person you are helping can read confidently in English, they may ask you to explain what certain words and phrases mean – you can explain but you must limit yourself to explaining the meaning of the words / phrases generally and not to how it applies to them.
Further Help
We hope this guide has helped you to understand what you can and cannot do to help people apply to the MVDAC.
If after reading this guide you remain unsure about what you can or cannot do, you can get advice from Rights of Women by calling our Professionals’ Advice Line.
Further Information
The regulatory body OISC has published a practice note explaining what immigration assistance can be provided and what work falls for regulation by the OISC.