“People with lived experience especially need FIAP because we aren’t going through a legal degree, and FIAP gives us the foundations to progress.”
This case study tells the story of an asylum seeker whose lived experience, determination, and FIAP training transformed not only her own life, but also an entire advice organisation.
Salina first came to as an asylum seeker seeking support for her and her family. Through the organisation, she and her daughters began volunteering in the kitchen. At the same time, her family was dealing with the devastating consequences of poor legal advice from a solicitor. Their asylum claim was refused at every stage, they had no right of appeal, and could not afford the high costs of a judicial review. One legal mistake resulted in a seven-year wait for leave to remain. During this time, Salina’s daughters lost seven years of their childhood in uncertainty, and her sons were separated from their father for seven years.
Determined to keep fighting, the family raised funds for a judicial review by cooking for i-ask clients and staff, with the organisation’s full support. During this period, Salina noticed how many people were coming to i-ask needing immigration advice that the organisation was not legally able to provide. She saw clients facing the same barriers her family had endured.
When i-ask shared free training opportunities with volunteers, Salina decided to attend the FIAP IAA Level 1 Asylum and Protection training. This opened her eyes to what was possible: the organisation needed to register with the IAA and build internal legal capacity. Salina consistently raised this with managers and trustees and was later invited to join the Board of Trustees, where she continued to advocate for IAA registration.
As her knowledge grew, managers recognised Salina’s potential and invited her to move from volunteering in the kitchen to the legal team. At the same time, she worked bank shifts in a care home and in a fast-food restaurant while studying for her IAA assessments. Salina quickly realised that Level 2 registration was essential if the organisation was to support clients beyond referrals.
After securing leave to remain, Salina was able to register and, with FIAP’s support, passed IAA Level 2. She was offered paid work at i-ask for eight hours a week, before progressing to a full-time Level 2 employment in 2019. She went on to establish a legal department, initially recruiting volunteers, and later expanding the team in 2021 utilising Covid-19 funding.
Today, Salina is the Legal Manager at i-ask, leading a team of Level 1 advisors and nine volunteers, most of whom she is supporting to work towards gaining IAA Level 2. She is currently working at IAA Level 3 under supervision of a local law firm and aims to become fully Level 3 registered, in view of the challenges of the legal aid crisis.
This lived experience-lead journey has transformed the organisation. I-ask is now the highest-level IAA-registered organisation in Huddersfield, has rebranded from DASH to i-ask as it has expanded geographically across Kirklees. The organisation now supports up to 160 clients per week through two drop-in services. In 2024/25 alone, i-ask supported 1,400 immigration clients, 1,700 welfare clients, and 110 people through its housing project.
Read about the impact on people’s lives that Salina and i-ask have been able to make as result of passing the IAA assessments with the support of FIAP.