Protection cases carry the highest stakes in law — return to persecution, separation from family, statelessness — and they are won on credibility and evidence, not sympathy. Connaught Law's human rights and asylum solicitors represent people at every stage: first claims, appeals, fresh claims and the human rights applications that keep families together.
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How We Can Help
Asylum Claims
Refugee status protects those with a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group — including claims based on sexuality, gender and domestic abuse that state authorities won't prevent. The claim process runs from screening to substantive interview to decision, and the interview is where cases are won or lost: we prepare claimants thoroughly, because a consistent, detailed account is the spine of credibility.
Humanitarian Protection
Where the Refugee Convention doesn't fit but return would still mean serious harm — indiscriminate violence in conflict, death penalty, torture or inhuman treatment — humanitarian protection provides its own route to status. We argue it alongside asylum where both run, and build the country evidence that these grounds depend on.
Human Rights Applications
Article 8 private and family life claims protect people whose lives are here even when no visa category fits: parents of British children, long-resident young people, families facing separation, and medical cases where treatment withdrawal would breach Article 3. These applications succeed on evidence of real life — not assertions about it — and they connect closely to our family visa work on the ten-year routes.
Refusals, Appeals & Fresh Claims
Protection and human rights refusals carry appeal rights to the tribunal, where independent judges allow a substantial share of properly prepared cases — our appeals team runs them with rebuilt evidence, expert reports and prepared witnesses. Where appeal rights are exhausted, significant new evidence can found a fresh claim; the threshold is real but so is the route, and we advise honestly on which side of it your material falls.
Detention & Removal
For clients detained or facing removal we act urgently: bail applications, representations against removal directions, and judicial review with interim relief where removal would be unlawful. These cases run on hours; the earlier we're instructed, the more options exist.
After Status Is Granted
Protection status is a beginning: family reunion applications to bring spouses and children, travel documents, and in time settlement and citizenship — an area where rules for refugees are changing, making early advice on the route to permanence more valuable, not less. We stay with clients through the whole arc.
How We Work
Every case starts with the full account, taken with the time and care trauma requires — then we build what the Home Office and tribunal actually weigh: consistency across every interview and statement, country evidence from recognised sources, medical and expert reports where scarring, mental health or documentation are in issue. Deadlines in protection cases are unforgiving and the consequences of missing them absolute; we run every stage to the clock.
We are honest about prospects at every step — false hope serves nobody whose life depends on the answer — and where legal aid or other funding may be available for your case type, we tell you before discussing our own fees.
Why Connaught Law
01Credibility built, not assumedConsistent accounts, corroborating evidence, expert reports — the architecture protection cases stand on.
02Urgent when it mattersDetention, removal directions, deadlines — we move at the pace the case demands, including out of hours.
03Senior attention throughoutYour case is run by our experienced immigration team, not passed down — with direct access to the person handling it.
04The whole arcFirst claim to appeal to family reunion to citizenship — one team, no handovers at the worst moments.
Fee structures are set out on our fees page — discussed openly, with funding options, before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I claim asylum in the UK?
Tell the authorities you fear return — at the border or, if you're already here, by registering the claim with the Home Office. Screening follows, then the substantive interview where your account is tested in detail. Claim as early as possible and take advice before the interview: delay and inconsistency are the two things decision-makers hold against claimants most.
What if my asylum claim is refused?
Most refusals carry a right of appeal to an independent tribunal, on a short deadline — and appeals with rebuilt evidence and prepared witnesses succeed in a substantial share of cases. After appeal rights end, genuinely new evidence can found a fresh claim. The one wrong response is inaction: every route has a clock.
Can I work while my asylum claim is decided?
Generally not at first — asylum seekers can apply for permission to work only after long delay in decision-making, and then in limited roles. Support with accommodation and subsistence may be available where you'd otherwise be destitute. We advise on both alongside the claim itself.
What is the difference between asylum and humanitarian protection?
Asylum protects against persecution for specific Convention reasons; humanitarian protection covers serious harm that doesn't fit those categories — indiscriminate conflict violence, torture, the death penalty. Both lead to status in the UK. Strong claims often argue both, and the evidence for each is built differently; that's part of the preparation.
Afraid of what return means?
Talk to us in confidence. We'll assess your protection and human rights options honestly, prepare you properly, and stand with you through every stage.
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