Welcome

Thank you for your interest in becoming our new Chief Executive.

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) is an award-winning charity based in Manchester providing legal immigration advice, representation and support to people seeking asylum, refugees, children and vulnerable adults across the North West. We have a strong reputation regionally for the high-quality legal representation, built up over 35 years.

We work in collaboration with others to influence local and national policies on immigration and we provide training to increase understanding of the immigration system and its impact on people in the North West and nationally. 

Our current Chief Executive Officer is retiring at the end of the year, having been in post for 16 years. We are now looking for our new CEO to continue our high-quality work and elevate the voices of those we support.

At the time of writing, statistics show that only 50% of people claiming asylum are likely to get a legal aid lawyer to represent them in their claim for protection in the UK. The Home Office has moved to an online eVisa system which is already causing chaos and potentially building up problems for people in the future as they struggle to provide evidence of their lawful right to be in the UK. The government has scrapped the Rwanda plan and made it possible for people to enter the asylum system for the first time. This is creating a new backlog and we are anticipating an accelerated increase in Home Office decision-making – positive and negative – which will have implications for people’s access to housing and risk of homelessness. The government’s stated intentions of accelerating removals is also creating a sense of fear and uncertainty and the impact of the racist riots in August in still being felt. Changes to the guidance on citizenship in February 2025 and the good character requirements have also created a lot of distress and uncertainty for people who have already established permanent settlement in the UK.

We have an passionate and committed team of staff and supporters who are committed to tackling all of these issues and more, to make sure that people in the North West get the support they need and that we highlight the impact all of this has on people’s every day lives.

If you are committed to tackling injustice and want to make a difference to people in the North West we encourage you to find out more about us in the following pages, and to discuss your interest with Prospectus.

Judith Nyanjowa

Chair