Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service

Tasmanian Legal Refugee Service (TRLS) is the only dedicated refugee, asylum seeker and humanitarian entrant not-for-profit legal service in Tasmania.

Our pro-bono legal assistance secures our clients protection from persecution, a pathway to permanent residency, safety from family violence and reunites separated families. Without our free service, most clients would be unable to progress their claims or bring their family to Tasmania simply due to financial barriers that exist in engaging a commercial lawyer.

Our three core programs are:
– Family reunification: We support Tasmanians from refugee backgrounds to navigate the complex legal and visa system and bring their loved ones to safety. This is quite often a child, spouse, sibling, parent or extended family, and occurs where conflict and/or persecution has separated families and one member ends up in Tasmania.
– Onshore protection assists temporary visa holders make asylum claims due to well-grounded fears of risk of harm if they return to their home country based on their sexual orientation, tribal/ethnic fighting or family violence.
– Family migration violence service provides migration advice and casework assistance to victim-survivors of family violence. These clients often remain stuck in abusive relationships as leaving them would breach their visa conditions and therefore risk their ability to remain in Australia.

Demand for our service is unprecedented – we currently represent over 1,500 people, a 35% increase from the previous year, and have a 3–6-month waitlist. Further funding will enable TRLS to expand our service and truly meet the needs of the refugee community.

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