The system of reception provides with legal advisors/operators that are employed inside the centres and will be there to provide legal assistance. If you do not reside in one official reception facility and need legal counselling, aid and/or representation while not having money, you can use free legal aid.

Who and how can get free legal aid?

As an asylum seeker hosted in a first or secondary reception centres, you have the right to receive free legal aid by legal advisors or lawyers, employed in those centres or financed by NGOs or specialised assisting bodies.

Those legal operators will support you in presenting the asylum request application; during the preparation for the personal interview before the determining authority, providing all necessary information about the procedure to follow, pointing out the main questions that may be asked by the Territorial Commission members and in case of a negative response to prepare the appeal.

Moreover, the lawyer or the legal advisor has a key role in gathering the information concerning your personal history and the country of origin information, drafting a report that, when necessary, is sent to the Territorial Commission, in particular with regard to people with greater vulnerabilities. Lawyers may be present during the personal interview but they do not play the same role as in a judicial hearing. You, as an applicant have to respond to the questions and the lawyer may intervene to clarify some aspects of the statements made.

Often the legal operators employed in the centres, do not have enough time to follow all the individual’s legal procedures, especially in the case of big first reception centres where many people are hosted. If you feel that, your case is not payed attention to, you can access on your own other associations/ organisations that provide free legal aid to asylum seekers, migrants and various status holders in Italy.

Some examples of associations you can contact below:

Programma Integra (Migration, Asylum and Social Integration Centre) http://www.programmaintegra.it

Asilo in Europa (Asylum in Europe): http://www.asiloineuropa.it/

Avvocati per niente (APN) Lawyers for Free: http://www.avvocatiperniente.it/

Borderline Sicilia: http://siciliamigranti.blogspot.com/

CLEDU – La Clinica Legale per i Diritti Umani: https://it-it.facebook.com/CLEDU-1663643247204597/ (Palermo)

Caritas Italiana: http://www.caritasitaliana.it/

Casa della Carità: http://www.casadellacarita.org/english

Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati: http://www.cir-onlus.org/

Cooperativa sociale K-Pax: k-pax.eu

info – Welcome to Europe: http://w2eu.info

Fondazione Franco Verga: http://www.fondazioneverga.org/ (Milano)

Centro Servizi per i Cittadini Extracomunitari ACLI – Caritas (Trieste)

UPM – Il Punto di Domande – Centro Aiuti Elaborazione Storie Richiedenti d’Asilo: http://www.migrantitorino.it/ (Turin)

Rete Lenford – Avvocatura per i diritti LGBTI (Professional body of lawyers for LGBTI persons): http://www.retelenford.it/

For more information, refer to http://www.refugeelegalaidinformation.org/italy-pro-bono-directory