Legal Services

African Services Committee provides free civil legal services and immigration representation to people living with HIV. In addition, African Services Committee offers low fee immigration services for immigrants regardless of HIV status.

Our legal team is staffed by multilingual attorneys, paralegals and law interns and provides representation in the following areas:

Civil Legal Services

• Immigration
• Landlord/ tenant problems including threat of eviction, housing discrimination and bad housing conditions
• Family law problems including custody, visitation, domestic violence and child support
• Public assistance including HASA, SLF, food stamps, welfare, shelter allowances, Medicaid, and SSI
• Future planning such as health care proxies, living wills, guardianships and powers of attorney.

LGBT Legal Representation and Supportive Services

ASC's LGBT services were launched to address the intersecting marginalization among LGBT African and Caribbean immigrants in a safe environment, and provide high-quality, pro-bono immigration legal services and mental health services in order to reduce isolation and build empowering networks. Through direct legal representation, ASC's LGBT services create a sustainable avenue for LGBT African and Caribbean immigrants to assert asylum claims based on sexual orientation and HIV/AIDS status. Furthermore, ASC offers a range of social and mental health services to reduce social isolation, moderate the effect of stressors on mental health, and build a safe environment that fosters mentorship and contributes to positive identity development.

Click here for more information.

Click here to view laws criminalizing homosexuality by African country. Interactive map by Jessica Greenberg and Tsion Gurmu.

Immigrant Community Law Center (ICLC) — a project of African Services Committee

Immigrant Community Law Center (ICLC) was founded by African Services Committee in 2012 to provide high-quality, affordable, and trustworthy immigration legal representation.  ICLC is staffed by a dedicated and culturally competent multilingual team of qualified attorneys and paralegals. ICLC serves all immigrants of all backgrounds. Click here to visit ICLC’s website: www.immigratncommunitylaw.org

ICLC seeks to empower each immigrant by:

• providing high-quality, affordable, and trustworthy immigration legal representation to all immigrants in a safe multilingual, culturally competent environment.
• combating predatory attorneys and unauthorized service providers whose legal assistance often causes direly negative consequences.
• creating a network of trusted community-based organizations and non-profit organizations.
• speaking at associations, religious organizations, and schools to educate communities about rights and responsibilities in the United States, as well as proposed changes to and existing options under immigration law.

For a consultation* with an African Services immigration attorney, call 212-222-3882 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

*Some consultations will be subject to a $60 initial consultation fee. Click here for more information about the consultation fee.

We work in partnership and with the support of various organizations throughout New York including the New York Immigration Coalition, Libertas Center for Survivors of Torture, Human Rights First, Legal Services for New York and HIV Law Project to protect and promote the rights of immigrants.