Volunteering

Please register your interest here and we will contact you the next time we recruit.

Details of our volunteer roles are below.

Remote Advocacy and Support Volunteers

Advocacy and Support Volunteers (ASVs) give a wide range of practical as well as emotional support to people in detention. ASVs are the first contact for people in detention calling our free phone, and are responsible for supporting a caseload of clients.  They provide non-immigration advice on people’s rights and how to access support and accommodation to which they can be released from detention.  ASVs also put people in touch with legal advisors and support organisations, such as BID or Medical Justice.

This is a remote volunteer role. We provide induction training via an online platform, ongoing training, telephone support and supervision.

You would need to be available to commit to least one day a week from 10am – 5pm for six months.

Remote Volunteer Interpreters

Volunteer Interpreters provide simultaneous telephone interpreting between staff and volunteers in the office and people in detention. We particularly look for people who are fluent in Arabic, Albanian, Amharic, Bengali, Farsi, French, Kurdish Sorani, Pashto, Portuguese (especially Brazilian Portuguese), Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Romanian, Tigrinya, Tetum, Vietnamese.

Volunteer Visitors

Volunteer Visitors befriend and give emotional support to people who are detained at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centres. They are required to use their active listening skills to offer support to people detained so that they can best cope with their situation. Volunteer visitors usually commit to visiting every 7-10 days for a period of 6 months, which is around 20 visits.

Remote volunteering from around the world – Leila

The paradox of visiting people in detention – Anthony

“I regularly speak to people who are in absolute despair” – Mary-Ann

Detention Action relies on the work of volunteers to deliver support and advice to people in immigration detention. We support people – providing emotional and practical support and advice – in the two immigration detention centres near Heathrow and to those detained under immigration powers in prisons. The majority of people in the centres are men, from a range of countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. They may be refused asylum seekers, ex-offenders, visa overstayers or people going through the asylum process.

We welcome applications from individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds including those who have lived experience of immigration detention and the UK immigration system.