About JCWI#
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has campaigned with migrants since 1967. It calls itself a small charity that punches above its weight: it challenges laws it considers unjust, trains other advisers to the regulator's first two levels, and runs a legal team regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority that offers legal aid representation and specialist advice across immigration and asylum law, including judicial review. In 2024-25 it advised and represented 211 clients, and its helpline supported 751 people. Its lawyers have taken cases as far as the Supreme Court, including a 2025 win on citizenship for children born while a parent was deprived of theirs.
How to get advice#
Its help page gives two routes.
- Legal advice and representation: email its legal team, which aims to reply within ten working days.
- The Irregular Migrants Helpline, free and confidential, for people in the UK without immigration status, open on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Members of the trade union UNISON have a separate immigration helpline through their union representative. We found no web chat, walk-in service or online form. Its access to justice toolkit is published in English, Urdu, Tamil, Amharic and Arabic.
What it publishes#
JCWI's guides are about status rather than names. Its guide to routes to regular status for people who are undocumented runs through the main ways to stay lawfully, from long residence and family life to protection and the concession for victims of domestic abuse. Its fee waiver guide lists the evidence the Home Office wants to see, such as bank statements and a copy of your residence permit or passport. Its briefings explain the "hostile environment", the checks landlords and employers make on immigration paperwork, which is why a name that differs from your Home Office record can cause trouble with a tenancy or a job.
We found nothing on its site about changing your name or about eVisas.
A name and immigration status#
A deed poll changes the name you use. It does not give, extend or repair immigration status, and it does not change a Home Office record by itself. Before a new name goes on an eVisa, the Home Office's guidance on names asks for proof that it is used throughout your life and, in most cases, a passport from your own country showing it. Except where a change follows marriage, adoption, a change of gender or a need for protection, both names may be checked against police and other records.
So if your status is uncertain or an application is pending, get regulated advice before you change anything. GOV.UK's adviser finder lists registered advisers, and every immigration adviser, charity or not, must be registered or belong to an approved professional body.
Reading on#
- Changing your name if you are not a British citizen: the Home Office's order of steps.
- Changing the name on your tenancy agreement: telling a landlord.
- Changing your name with your employer: payroll and right to work checks.
This page describes what JCWI publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. JCWI has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
