The Sanctuary Support Fund

The Sanctuary Support Fund is a pot of money set up by Bristol SU to support our University of Bristol Sanctuary Scholars who are facing deportation or other hostile environment for their migration status.

This Sanctuary Support Fund was previously known as ‘Sanctuary Scholar Legal Aid Fund’.

For more information, you can see the Bristol SU Webpage here.

Who are the Sanctuary Scholars and why they need this money?

The Sanctuary Scholarship supports asylum-seeking and refugee students to access higher education. The scholarships are awarded by University of Bristol.

The scholarship covers tuition fees and provides a stipend for living costs. However, it is not always enough to support students through legal cases, visa applications, Asylum Claims appeals and various Limited Leave to Remain applications, and other migration restrictions.

Immigration legal fees typically cost over £3000 per case.

Given the current political landscape, migrants are facing an increasingly hostile environment. There have been multiple cases of Sanctuary Scholars at Bristol dropping out of studies or taking loans to pay for their ongoing Asylum Claims. This fund is crucial to support those students through financially and emotionally difficult times.

The Home Office puts out frequent changes to immigration policies. Bristol SU aims to be flexible in supporting students through a wide range of hostile environments and deportation threats.

What else can I do to support?

- Join our student groups STAR and/or Amnesty to help with fundraising! (If you're a University of Bristol student).

- Amplify our project! Repost this on your personal social media

- Encourage your society to put on events to fundraise for this fund, which can count towards your accreditation (If you're a University of Bristol student group member).