The Advocates provides free legal assistance to low-income asylum seekers who live in Minnesota, North or South Dakota. The first step to getting free legal help from The Advocates is to call our intake phone line at 612-341-9845. The Advocates does not do intake interviews for walk-in clients. Please call to start the intake process.

When you call, you will be asked some preliminary questions about where you live, your income and the income of your family members, your immigration history, and your asylum case. You can also fill out our intake form online by clicking here. We will review the information you give us and if you meet our guidelines, we will call you back to schedule an intake appointment.

The intake appointment usually lasts 1 ½ - 2 hours, and takes place either at our office or over the phone if you live outside the Twin Cities metro area. During the intake appointment, our staff will ask you questions to learn more about your asylum case and will review any documents you have relating to your case. In order to protect your privacy, we prefer to meet with just you and an interpreter (if needed). After we meet with you, our legal staff will review your case and notify you whether we are able to locate a volunteer attorney to represent you. Due to limited resources we are unable to represent everyone who seeks our help.

If we are able to help you, we will send you a letter to let you know we will be finding a volunteer attorney to represent you. This process can take a few weeks, so please be patient. If we cannot help you, we will send you a list of attorneys and agencies you may wish to contact for help. This list is also available below.