By February 1975, 1,188 refugees from Chile had arrived in Canada. The new Immigration Act was tabled. This was the first Canadian immigration legislation to recognize refugees as a special class of immigrants.

We are an independent charity dedicated to supporting people in need of refugee protection. The people we work with have fled horrific situations around the world and come from countries where conflict is rife and human rights abuses common.

The first modern definition of international refugee status came about under the League of Nations in 1921 from the Commission for Refugees. Following World War II, and in response to the large numbers of people fleeing Eastern Europe, the UN 1951 Refugee Convention defined “refugee” (in Article 1.

Based on the total population of people in the UK of concern to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2011, Scottish Refugee Council estimates there to be approximately 20,000 refugees, asylum seekers and others of concern in Scotland.

Scotland has a long history of welcoming refugees and asylum seekers and recognises it is a human right to be able to seek asylum in another country.

Since 2015, Scotland has proudly received refugees under the United Kingdom’s Syrian Resettlement Programme. From day one, Scotland made a commitment to receive a fair and proportionate share of the refugees under the UK’s commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees by 2020.

You’ll get £39.63 for each person in your household. This will help you pay for things you need like food, clothing and toiletries. Your allowance will be loaded onto a debit card (ASPEN card) each week. You’ll be able to use the card to get cash from a cash machine.

Since enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, federal law has prohibited noncitizens from voting in federal elections, punishing them by fines, imprisonment, inadmissibility and deportation.

An asylum seeker is a person looking for protection because they fear persecution, or they have experienced violence or human rights violations. A refugee is a person who asked for protection and was given refugee status. They may have been resettled in another country or be waiting for resettlement.

Asylees can travel outside the United States with refugee travel documents. It is essential that the asylee not return to her home country until she has become a U.S. citizen and can travel with a U.S. passport. Asylees must only travel with a United States issued Refugee Travel Document.

Once the reasons for being displaced or having fled have disappeared and it is safe again to live in this country refugees are free to go back to their country of origin. The so-called returnees are still people of concern to the UNHCR and are, as such, under their legal protection.