Brazilians in London
We’re already here
Eat with us
Upcoming London Events
By month
Last Updated 26th Sept 26
Test your Brazilian side
Where to go from here
Eat and shop
Where to find food from home
A bakery, a butcher or a restaurant, and the part of London you are in.
Open
Price a head
Hours and prices checked on 26th Sept 26.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Dance
Where to dance in London
London has learned to dance what is ours. There is forró in Camden, zouk in Exmouth Market, capoeira in Woolwich and a samba school that wins prizes at Notting Hill Carnival.
When
The week
By dance, by area, or the whole week. Today is marked.
The timetable moves. Who posts the class each week is on Going out.
Updated 26th Sept 26
The walk
Five walks through Brazilian London
Five walking routes, all free, each telling a different part of the story. Do them in your own time, alone, with someone, or with the whole crowd.
Select a path
Off the route, but worth the trip
You cannot do these on foot on the same day, but each one is a stop in its own right.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Community
Where the community meets
Sunday: Mass in Portuguese at 9am in Bayswater, at 3pm in Fulham, and on most Sundays at 5pm in Camden. The Brazilian chaplaincy runs from 8.30am in Crystal Palace to 7pm in Brixton. Saturday has a chaplaincy Mass in Bayswater, Whitechapel and Willesden, and Portuguese class at BREACC and Clube dos Brasileirinhos.
Brazil does not have one religion. In the 2022 Census, 56.7% declared themselves Catholic, 26.9% evangelical, 9.3% no religion, and 1% umbanda and candomblé, a rise of 233% on 2010. The list above reflects what we were able to confirm in London, and it is far from covering everything. If your community is not here, write to us.
Taking the children to Brazil
The dates from all 32 boroughs and the City, together, and how they fit the Brazilian summer.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Going out
A Brazilian week in London
A class, a room every week, or a match. The rest of the dates go up on Instagram.
Step 1 of 3: Build your social routine
Consider signing up to one of these two regular events
1 of 2 Regular dance classes Forró, zouk, samba and capoeira
Friday to Sunday
Church, live music, pastel and pagode.
The Brazilian year in London
Step 2 of 3: Stay up to date with what’s going on
A named show goes up months ahead. A party goes up two or three weeks ahead, on Instagram.
Step 3 of 3: From rodízio to the roda
Watching Brazilian football here
Who holds the rights, and which kickoff actually fits a bar.
Where to go from here
DanceLondon learned our steps
Eat and shopEat in Portuguese, all the way across London
HomeThe week, on one page.
Updated 26th Sept 26
History
How we got here
In 2001 the Census found fifteen thousand Brazilians in the whole UK. Today the consulate talks about more than two hundred thousand. Everything that exists now, the bakeries, the samba schools, the churches, the butchers, the Saturday Portuguese class, was built in that gap, by people who arrived and found none of it here.
Who we are here
Where we come from
There is no official data on state of origin: neither the British census nor the Brazilian foreign ministry asks. What exists is academic research with small samples, which gives the order of the states that send most people to London, not the percentage each one contributes. So that is what is here: the order, and not a chart with numbers we do not have. The list shows the largest groups in that research, not every state represented in London.
The areas the research names
Beyond the census numbers, these are the areas named repeatedly in studies of the community.
The usual picture is Harlesden, Willesden and central London. But a 2026 survey catalogued Brazilian businesses and organisations across 17 different boroughs, and it spreads much further than the reputation suggests: Lambeth, Haringey, Newham, Hackney, Brent, Islington, Waltham Forest, Greenwich, Barnet, Richmond, Wandsworth, Merton. Central London shows up heavily on a list like that because of universities, associations and restaurant chains, not because it is where the community lives.
Brazilian food here runs on two different economies. One is the destination churrascaria in the centre, where you go to celebrate. The other is the network of neighbourhood butchers, grocers and cafes in the east, north east, north and south, where the same people go every week. If what you want is to find Brazilians, the second is worth far more than the first. A neighbourhood butcher and a Saturday Portuguese school gather more Brazilian families than any fashionable rodízio. And the east is no longer only food: Hackney has grocers and Mass, Tower Hamlets has the chaplaincy base and a university Brazilian society, Newham has food and two salons that work with Afro hair.
The Itamaraty estimate for 2023, 230,000, is almost exactly double the 116,000 in the census. A difference of nearly 114,000 people, and neither one is wrong. The census counts people born in Brazil who live here. The consular estimate tries to count the Brazilian community, which includes children born here, people with dual nationality and people the census does not reach. There is no point averaging the two: they answer different questions.
After 2021 there is no yearly population count by country of birth. The Itamaraty estimate rose from 220,000 in 2022 to 230,000 in 2023.
Twenty years in three numbers
People born in Brazil living in London, across the three censuses. It is worth looking at the two decades separately, because they say different things. Between 2001 and 2011 the counted community grew by 284%, close to quadrupling. Between 2011 and 2021 it grew by another 78%. So the explosion was in the first decade, and after that growth stayed strong but at a different pace.
In 2001 there were 8,175 Brazilians in the whole of London. Anyone who arrived then arrived to almost nothing: no Brazilian butcher on the High Road, no Portuguese school on Saturdays, no Mass in Portuguese across eight neighbourhoods, no forró class every week. Everything listed on this site was built in twenty years, by people who arrived with none of it and made it. The list of places on this site is, in the end, the list of what our generation and the one before it built.
And the map moved. In 2001 the two largest groups of Brazilians in London were in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, the two most expensive boroughs in the city. By 2021 the four largest are Brent, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Haringey. The places that grew most over those twenty years were not central: Greenwich seventeenfold, Croydon sixteen, Sutton fifteen, Newham fourteen. Kensington and Chelsea grew least of all, barely doubling. In other words: from a small central community it became a large and dispersed one, and it went to the places where you can actually live. And the spreading was not only within London. In 2011, London held 62% of everyone born in Brazil living in England and Wales. By 2021 it was exactly half. The community grew in London and grew faster still outside it.
Where it is growing now
How many times over the counted community multiplied between 2011 and 2021, looking only at boroughs above 500 people so small numbers do not distort it.
Notice what that means in practice. The places growing fastest today are Croydon, Greenwich, Harrow, Bromley, Merton and Kingston, all outside the centre. Meanwhile Kensington and Chelsea grew by only 17% in ten years, Southwark 23%, Hackney 25%, Camden 28% and Westminster 30%. So anyone arriving today and hearing "go to Willesden" is hearing where the community has been, not where it is going. Rent explains a good part of it.
Where we have nothing listed
Boroughs with more than fourteen hundred Brazilians in the census and not one address on our list. It is not that nothing is there: it is that we did not find it.
Born in Brazil, by borough
People born in Brazil and resident in each borough, in the count published by the GLA from ONS data. It counts people born in Brazil, so a child born here is not included. The British census has no Latin American category, so country of birth is the breakdown that exists. Community organisations campaign for a category of their own. The table covers the 32 boroughs and the City of London.
Where the community is moving
Brazilians who left a mark here
This is not a celebrity list. It is people who came through here and left something, in both directions: those who built something in London and stayed, and those who came to study, learned, and went back to do it in Brazil. There is physics, law, literature, design, music, food and football. Some from two hundred years ago, some very recent. Where there is a source, it is at the end of the block.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Brasil Londres First 90 days checklist, to print and tick off. Always check the official source before acting: rules and figures change.
First 90 days
The order to do things in
Thousands of Brazilians have done exactly this, and it has an order. Here it is: what to sort first, what to take with you, and the official link for each step.
Phrases to show at the counter
Situations where your right is written on an official page. The English is for showing; the Portuguese is so you know what you are showing. Tap Show to open it in large type, or Send to paste it into WhatsApp with the date and the link.
Here and in Brazil
Things that work one way here and another way in Brazil. Not that either is better: they are different systems, and nobody tells you which is which. Here we do.
The first winter
London gets wet more than it gets cold, and clothing sizes are a different system. The sum and the fitting-room line are here.
Where to buy
A neighbourhood shop on Harlesden High Street, and Brazilian brands with their own door in the centre. A bra fitting, which the size chart does not settle, is at the end. This is what we found, not every shop.
Sorting a bank, a flat, a doctor and a job is work enough in our own language. In English, in a system nobody explains, it is a great deal more.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Housing
The rent, the council and the damp
In Brazil a fiador settles it, the IPTU belongs to the owner and the deposit sits with them. Here each of those has another name and another rule. This page gathers the order and the official link. If our sentence and the government page disagree, theirs is the one that counts.
The postcode is used to find the borough. We do not keep it.
The deposit sentence, to show the agency
The new renting law, since May 2026
The Renters’ Rights Act changed private renting in England. It applies to people renting from a landlord who does not live in the property. Renting a room in the owner’s home has other rules, set out in the fourth item.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Work
What you are entitled to be paid
Most of these rights apply from your first day, with no minimum service. Here are the official figures, the rules, and where to find people who understand them. Figures checked in Aug 26: they change every 1 April, and this is information, not legal advice.
This is just arithmetic, done here in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere and we store nothing. Rates in force since 1 April 2026.
April 2026, at 37.5 hours a week
Of the £975, £273 does not arrive, 28% of the rise. The tax-free band has been frozen at £12,570 since April 2021. Our calculation, at 37.5 hours, checked in Aug 26. GOV.UK.
What changed in April, and what is left for you
Every year the UK changes eight or nine numbers on separate GOV.UK pages, none referring to the others. Here they are together, with the sum nobody publishes.
Holiday, payslips and tax codes
Paid holiday applies from day one, zero-hours included. Here is the sum, what a payslip must show and where to complain. Checked in Sept 26, on Acas and GOV.UK.
Sites, apps and whoever pays you
Sites and apps pay another way. Here is the official name of each deduction, and the page that publishes today’s rate.
Working for yourself
In Brazil the MEI folds tax and social security into one bill. Here they are two conversations with HMRC, on different dates. The deadlines below are the ones on the government page the day we checked. The link is the year that is in force.
Around half of Latin Americans in London hold a university education, above the city average. Even so, plenty of people work below what they can do. What holds people back at the start is almost always the same three things: the language, a qualification not recognised straight away, and no track record here.
What your job is called here
A job title does not translate word for word. The literal translation is a name a British employer does not use, and a search for it comes back empty.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Money
Money between the two countries
Sending it home, what that really costs, and what happens to what you already paid here.
Sending money home
Pensions, INSS and qualifications
If you send money to Brazil, or know someone who does, this is the check before you send. This is the text to send them.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Health
How healthcare works here
Mostly the things that work completely differently from Brazil.
English phrases to show at the GP and the pharmacy
Updated 26th Sept 26
Children
School, and registration in both countries
In Brazil you enrol at the neighbourhood school, and a child of a Brazilian is Brazilian. Here a place is applied for, with a date, and being born here does not by itself answer either the British passport or the Brazilian one. The order is below. Each deadline lives on the official page, with the date we read it.
Saturday Portuguese, on the Community page
Updated 26th Sept 26
Documents
Paperwork between the two countries
This is the part that appears in no expat guide, because it only exists if you are Brazilian. Apostille, sworn translation, consular registration, power of attorney, and pensions on both sides. Every mistake here costs money and time.
A note for anyone planning to go back, whether in a year or in twenty. Much of what makes that return easy gets settled while you are still here, not afterwards. Apostilling a British certificate is simpler to do in London than from Brazil, because an apostille can only be issued by the country that produced the document. Registering a child at the consulate is easier now than as a legal process later. A British degree is easier to gather paperwork for now, with the university nearby. And time contributed here does not transfer to the Brazilian pension system, so knowing that early changes what you do with the money. This page holds all three: what you owe Brazil while living abroad, what to do with your degree from here, and what is best settled before you fly.
What you still owe Brazil
Living here does not switch everything off there. Tax, voter registration, military enlistment, CPF, registering a child and your driving licence all still exist, and three of them can block your passport. No British guide will tell you this because it is not their subject. Position as at Aug 26: confirm with the Brazilian body before acting, because these rules change.
The year in both countries
The deadlines that come round every year, from both governments, in one place. No guide puts the two together because each one only handles its own side. Dates checked in Aug 26: each has its source in the corresponding section of the site.
Regulated professions: the route for each one
This part is about your Brazilian qualification counting here. If what you want is the reverse, a British qualification counting in Brazil, that is just below, under A degree from here, valid in Brazil. Nine professions, with the body that decides, whether your qualification is assessed directly or there is an exam, the English required and the published cost. Position as at Aug 26: fees and timelines change often, so check the link before spending.
In three professions the Brazilian qualification is assessed directly, with no compulsory conversion exam: physiotherapy, psychology and engineering. In those, your training and experience are compared against the standard here, and good documentation can be enough. In the others there is an exam, but none of them makes you repeat an entire degree.
One thing applies to all of them: whoever decides your case decides by looking at paper. A detailed curriculum, placement and clinical hours, module descriptions, proof of registration with your professional council and a certificate of good standing, all with certified translation. The quality of the documentation changes the outcome. It is worth reading the apostille and sworn translation section on this same page before you start. And if you work in beauty or aesthetics, this is not your route: it is borough licensing, and it is on the Beauty page.
This applies to most people: if your profession is not regulated here, nobody needs to recognise your qualification. Marketing, technology, administration, accountancy, design, logistics, sales, human resources, hospitality. In those fields there is no council, no conversion exam and no compulsory registration. You simply apply for the job, like anyone from here.
What does exist, and helps, is UK ENIC: a paid service that compares your Brazilian qualification against the equivalent British level and issues a statement. That is not professional recognition and it is not a licence: it is a translation of level, useful for job applications, for university and for some borough licence applications. Plenty of people spend money on a course here believing they have to start again, when what was missing was an explanation of what their qualification already is.
The official cost, side by side
Regulator fees only, so you can see the difference in scale before choosing a route. It excludes the English test, sworn translation, preparation courses, travel and course fees, which in pharmacy and law are the larger expense. Figures checked in Aug and Sept 26.
The time, side by side
A planning estimate, not anyone’s promise. It counts from the point where you already have documents, translations and English in hand. Exam availability, incomplete paperwork and resits all stretch it.
The week of leaving
The exit declaration, INSS and what you already paid here are further up and on the Money page. This is the rest of the week: FGTS, who to tell on this side, and the visa for whoever is going with you. We do not pick a visa. The consulate publishes the list.
If someone dies
Consular registration is one line of the paperwork, further up. The week itself has another order, and it is written on GOV.UK and at the consulate. This page points at both. It recommends no funeral director and gives no repatriation price.
A degree from here, valid in Brazil
If you came here to study and intend to go back, a British degree is not automatically valid in Brazil: depending on what you plan to do, it has to go through revalidação or reconhecimento. If your case is the reverse, a Brazilian qualification for working here, that is just above, under Regulated professions. Position as at Aug 26, with the official link on each item.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Links
The official sources behind this site, in one place
Every official link cited on this site, gathered here with the date we checked it. The idea is simple: rules and figures can change at any time, and it is always the official body that decides, not us. If it matters to you, open the source and check today’s version.
Glossary
The words in the letter and the interview
NI number, council tax, GP, UTR, AST. Words that turn up in every letter and every job interview. Here is what each one means.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Where to get help
People who can actually help
There is a whole network built for this, much of it by Latin American women, and several of them work in Portuguese. These are the right doors to knock on.
Not sure where to start?
What is going on?
Choose the subject, then the situation. The answer is what this site already has on it, with the source for each part, and who helps for free. What you choose here is not stored or sent.
What is it about?
Domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation
If you are in danger right now, call 999. Speak if you can, even in a whisper.
What follows are the words of the Metropolitan Police, on their own page about making a silent 999 call. The link is at the end of the block.
“If you’re in danger, call 999 and try to speak to the operator if you can, even by whispering.”
“If you don’t speak or answer questions, press 55 or tap when prompted and your call will be transferred to the police.”
“The police will usually be able to find your location.”
“If you don’t press 55 or respond, your call could be ended.”
Press 55 when prompted, not before: it is not a shortcut, it is the answer to the automated message. And staying silent and doing nothing else does not guarantee that police will come to you: correcting that misconception is why the IOPC ran the national Make Yourself Heard campaign.
For non-emergencies the police number is 101. The national domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247, 24 hours. LAWRS, in Portuguese, is 0808 145 4909, Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 1pm, free to call.
Checked and updated on 26th Sept 26. Quotations above are verbatim from the official page. Guidance can change: check the original. met.police.uk
First of all, about the device you are using. The red button above leaves this page immediately and replaces the address, but it does not erase your browser history. If there is any chance someone checks your phone or computer, it is worth using a private window, or a friend’s device, or a library computer. This site asks for no account and sends nothing about you to anyone. But the browser keeps your history and, for this site, a copy of the pages so they open offline, plus anything you save here, such as the hours notebook. In a private window, none of that stays once you close it.
The refusal is usually about who pays for the place. The Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession gives three months with access to public funds, with no fee.
The Queen Mary research recorded women refused by refuges in London, including women with documents. The reason is rarely explained, and it is often money.
A refuge place is paid for by benefits. The refuge charges the accommodation to housing benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit. Someone who cannot claim benefits has nobody to pay for the place, which is why the refuge cannot take her. The refusal is about who pays for the place.
The Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession, formerly the DDVC, gives three months of permission outside the normal rules, with access to public funds and the right to work. There is no fee: the Home Office charges nothing to apply. With it, there is somebody to pay for the place.
Now the warning, and it is a serious one. Getting the concession does not guarantee that you can then get permanent residence. The two have different rules, and someone who was a dependant on a work or student visa often gets the concession and does not qualify for Appendix VDA afterwards.
Immigration lawyers have been warning about exactly this, because a person can use the three months and be left with nowhere to go at the end.
Which is why the order matters: speak to an immigration organisation before applying, not after. They do this free and they know which route is yours. They are all on this page.
- 1Ring before you applyOne of the immigration organisations on this page, free. They check whether your route leads to residence afterwards, or ends in three months.
- 2The application itself costs nothingThe Home Office charges no fee for the concession. If someone is charging you to fill it in, check their registration first.
- 3Three months with benefits and the right to workIn that period a refuge can take you, and you can claim Universal Credit and housing help from the council.
- 4What comes after the three monthsIt depends on your route, and that is exactly what the organisation in the first step checks with you before you apply.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Home Office, MVDAC guidance 26/02/2026; NRPF Network; Evans and McIlwaine, Queen Mary, 2017. Next review due 1 February 2027.- 1
This part is not for the person going through it. It is for the person standing next to her.
This part is not for the person going through it. It is for the person standing next to her.
In the Queen Mary research, nine of twelve organisations said the most common way a Brazilian woman reaches them is a referral from another woman. Not a campaign, not a leaflet, not a website. A friend who said something. The same research shows she only seeks help once things are already severe.
The research recorded this as a typical reaction in the community: "but I know her husband, he is lovely".
You can help without using the word violence.
- 1Do not confront himIt raises the risk for her, not for you, and it tells him she has been talking. However much you want to.
- 2Do not tell her to leaveLeaving is when danger peaks, and telling someone to leave without being able to help her do it safely usually just costs the friendship. Then she has lost the one person she told.
- 3Do not say "I would never put up with that"That is the sentence that ends the conversation.
- 4Say the small true thing"You can tell me anything and I will not tell anyone." Then keep it. The community is small and she knows it.
- 5Offer logistics, not adviceMind the children for an hour. Let her use your address for post. Come with her to the appointment. Keep a copy of her documents at your place. That is worth more than any opinion.
- 6Keep a number, not a conversation0808 2000 247 is free and open 24 hours. You can ring it yourself for advice on how to help someone, without giving her name.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary University of London, 2017; Refuge, National Domestic Abuse Helpline. Next review due 10 April 2027.- 1
Nothing here asks anything about you. It is only what British law says, alongside Brazilian law, about situations that come up in a marriage.
Nothing here asks anything about you. It is only what British law says, alongside Brazilian law, about situations that come up in a marriage.
Why this table exists: in research with organisations serving Brazilian women in London, it was common for a woman to answer "violence? never!" and then describe exactly the things on this list.
Not out of denial, but because several of these are criminal offences here, carrying a prison sentence, where in Brazil they more often lead to a protective order, so nobody had ever called them a crime in front of her.
Since April 2023 the coercive control offence no longer requires that you live together. It covers an ex-partner and a family member, even if he has already moved out or never lived with you.
Read it as information about the law. The conclusion is yours, and it does not have to be reached today.
In Brazil Here Controlling the household money and her wages Patrimonial violence under Lei Maria da Penha: grounds for a protective order A crime when it is repeated, as part of controlling or coercive behaviour, up to 5 years. The 2021 Act also defines it as economic abuse Controlling where she goes, who she speaks to, her phone Psychological violence under Lei Maria da Penha: grounds for a protective order. Since 2021 it can be a crime, Lei 14.188 A crime when it is repeated, as part of controlling or coercive behaviour, up to 5 years Repeated threats and humiliation, with no hand laid on her Psychological violence became a crime in 2021, Lei 14.188 A crime, with no physical assault at all Keeping her passport Can amount to unlawful constraint Evidence of coercive control, and can indicate trafficking Threatening to report her to immigration No equivalent Recognised as a form of abuse, not a detail Stopping her working or studying Protective order. Since 2021 it can fall under psychological violence, Lei 14.188 A crime when it is repeated, as part of controlling or coercive behaviour, up to 5 years Sex without consent inside a marriage A crime, since 2005 A crime, since 1991. Marriage is not consent Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Domestic Abuse Act 2021; Serious Crime Act 2015, section 76; R v R (1991); Lei 14.188/2021, art. 147-B; Evans and McIlwaine, Queen Mary, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.Since 2025 status lives in an online account in your name, the UKVI account. For work and renting, the share code comes from there, free.
Taking a woman’s passport is one of the most common control tactics in the research on Brazilian women in London. But that tactic was built for a world of paper documents, and that world has ended.
BRP cards expired on 31 December 2024. Your immigration status now lives in a UKVI account, online, in your name. You prove your right to work and to rent by generating a share code there, on the spot, free, as many times as you need.
To travel, the airline checks the eVisa linked to your passport, in that same account, not the share code.
What that means in practice: the immigration status is no longer on a card he can hide. It is in an account he can only reach if he has your email and your phone. If you have status, you prove it yourself, without asking anyone. To board a plane, the physical passport is still required: the eVisa is linked to it.
One honest caveat, because it matters: this only helps if you have status. If you are undocumented the account will not show what is not there, and the route is a different one, through an organisation on this page.
And he can still hide the Brazilian passport itself: that one you replace at the consulate, on your own, without his permission.
- 1Check the account exists and that you can get inAnyone who applied for a visa recently usually already has one. Logging in and looking changes nothing about your status. But signing in needs the code sent to the phone or email on the account: if those are his, the code goes to him. In that case, speak to an organisation on this page first.
- 2Use an email that is only yoursNot the household email, nor one he has ever used. A brand new one is fine. That email is what recovers the account later.
- 3Put your own phone on two-factorIf the number on file is his, the access is his. Changing the number means signing in, and that goes through the code sent to the current contact. If that contact is his, make the change with an organisation on this page.
- 4Check the details match your passportName, date of birth, passport number. A wrong detail is what makes an airline refuse boarding to someone with a valid visa.
Checked on 25th Sept 26 Source: GOV.UK, eVisa and UKVI account; share code for work and rent; BRPs expired 31/12/2024; Evans and McIlwaine, Queen Mary, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.- 1
This whole site points towards help in Portuguese, and for many people that is exactly what works.
This whole site points towards help in Portuguese, and for many people that is exactly what works. The opposite is worth saying too.
The Queen Mary research recorded women who did not want to be seen by someone from their own community, fearing judgement or that others would find out they were seeking help. One provider explained why: the community is small, and the reaction tends to be "but I know her husband, he is lovely, she must be lying".
Choosing a service where nobody knows your husband is a valid choice, not a lesser one. You have the right to a free interpreter at any NHS, police or council service, and most domestic abuse organisations arrange one too.
Worth knowing as well that people from the community work inside the big services too. If that worries you, you can ask when booking that you are not seen by someone who speaks Portuguese.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary University of London, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.This is the most dangerous thing not to know, and the least talked about. The Queen Mary research recorded cases like this:
This is the most dangerous thing not to know, and the least talked about.
The Queen Mary research recorded cases like this: a woman defended herself physically from an attack, he reported her first, and she ended up classed as the aggressor while he walked away.
It also recorded a woman found by police after screaming for help: because she spoke no English and he had already gone, she was arrested on suspicion of sex working.
The reason is not justice, it is asymmetry. One provider described it: a woman who does not speak English, who does not know what is happening, against a man who does speak English, knows how to tell a story and knows the system. Whoever reaches the police first and can explain themselves has the advantage, regardless of who did what.
This does not mean accepting a beating. It means calling 999 is safer than hitting back, and that if police arrive and you cannot explain yourself, you have the right to a free interpreter there and then, before answering any question. Ask for one, even if they have already started. And do not sign anything you did not understand.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary University of London, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.In Queen Mary research with twelve organisations serving Brazilian women in London, lack of immigration status was named, together with control of money, as one of the two factors that most lead Brazilian women into violence.
In Queen Mary research with twelve organisations serving Brazilian women in London, lack of immigration status was named, together with control of money, as one of the two factors that most lead Brazilian women into violence. What the research describes is the lack of any other door.
The pattern they describe: she meets a man, often Portuguese or holding a European passport, sometimes online. He sorts out her status, or promises to. From then on her papers depend on him. One provider put it simply: "many endure horrible things because of this document".
One thing is worth more than any advice: threatening to report you to immigration is itself a recognised form of abuse here, not a detail of the relationship.
If your visa depends on him, that does not leave you with nothing. There is a concession for migrant victims of domestic abuse, and there are organisations that handle it free and in Portuguese. The path is narrower, not closed.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary University of London, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.Of all the factors, control over financial resources was, together with lack of immigration status, the one organisations named most.
Of all the factors, control over financial resources was, together with lack of immigration status, the one organisations named most. And in London it runs in two opposite directions.
In one, he controls everything: her wages, the benefits, the account, the rent. One provider noted this is stronger here than in Brazil, because there is more to control: benefits, the council, housing. She has no money of her own and therefore no way out.
In the other, she finds work before he does. Cleaning is found quickly, through word of mouth, and pays the same day. He is at home. One provider described the turning point exactly: she comes home tired, he asks for her money, and that is where the violence starts.
If you recognised either one, you do not have to call it violence to ask for help. You can ring and talk only about money.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary University of London, 2017. Next review due 10 April 2027.People who support Brazilian women in London were asked who the abusers are. The answer is not what most expect: often it is not a Brazilian man.
People who support Brazilian women in London were asked who the abusers are. The answer is not what most expect: often it is not a Brazilian man. Portuguese men come up first, then Brazilians, and also British, Italian and Angolan men.
What links these cases is not nationality, it is who holds the papers. The pattern described is this: a woman needs to regularise her status, enters a relationship with someone who already has a European or British passport, and comes to depend on him to exist legally in the country. From there, immigration status becomes a tool.
Two things worth knowing before they become urgent. First, meeting online features heavily in these accounts, with the man arranging and paying for the journey, which creates debt and dependency before she has even landed. Second, and harder: on a spouse visa, the visa depends on the relationship.
A specific route exists for victims of domestic abuse, and the immigration organisations on this page explain free of charge how it applies to your case.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary, 2017. Next review due 1 January 2027.This is the most expensive mistake that comes up in casework, and it is made out of love.
This is the most expensive mistake that comes up in casework, and it is made out of love. A woman is being hurt, her family is in Brazil, she takes the child and goes.
Brazil and the UK are both parties to the Hague Convention. Removing a child from the country where they live without the other parent’s permission is international child abduction. There has been a case of a mother and son escorted back from Brazil to London by Interpol, weeks after arriving.
Suffering violence is not an automatic defence.
There is a lawful route, and it is slower and less instinctive than getting on a plane: asking a court here for permission to relocate with the child. If you are thinking about this, speak to someone before you buy the ticket, not after. Once you have boarded, what was an application becomes a criminal case against you.
Checked on 26th Sept 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Queen Mary, 2017; GOV.UK, taking a child abroad; 1980 Hague Convention, to which Brazil and the UK are both parties (HCCH). Next review due 1 January 2027.People who work with Brazilian women in London describe the same scene over and over: they ask a woman whether she has suffered violence, she says "never", and half an hour later describes years of control, threats and humiliation.
People who work with Brazilian women in London describe the same scene over and over: they ask a woman whether she has suffered violence, she says "never", and half an hour later describes years of control, threats and humiliation.
For many people the word "violence" means a mark on the body. What is worth knowing is this: coercive control and sustained verbal abuse are crimes here. Not an aggravating factor, not "a family matter": a criminal offence carrying a prison sentence, under the Serious Crime Act 2015 and extended by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
That changes what the police here can do, and it changes what is worth telling them. What in Brazil is often called "jealousy", "just how he is" or "a couple thing" has a name and a prosecution route here.
One detail that comes up often in casework and is almost never connected: repeated miscarriage. Practitioners describe several women in that situation who had not linked what was happening at home to what was happening to the pregnancy. If that is you, it is worth telling the doctor what is going on at home, not only the symptom.
- 1Controlling your moneyDeciding what you spend, keeping your wages, stopping you working, or making you work and hand it all over.
- 2Controlling where you go and who you speak toReading your phone, demanding your location, cutting you off from family, deciding whether you can go out.
- 3Using your immigration status against youThreatening to call the Home Office, holding your passport, saying you will lose the children if you leave.
- 4Sustained humiliationInsults, belittling you in front of others, telling you nobody will believe you. Sustained, this is a crime here.
Checked on 23rd Aug 26 Source: Evans and McIlwaine, Supporting Brazilian Women in London, Queen Mary, 2017; Serious Crime Act 2015, section 76; Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Next review due 1 January 2027.- 1
That sentence is Mafalda’s, a migrant survivor supported by LAWRS for years. She said it in the UK Parliament, in March 2019, at an event on protection for migrant women.
That sentence is Mafalda’s, a migrant survivor supported by LAWRS for years. She said it in the UK Parliament, in March 2019, at an event on protection for migrant women. These are her words, spoken in public:
"In this context of uncertainty, I was not vulnerable but I was made vulnerable."
It is worth stopping on that difference, because it changes everything. Vulnerability is not a characteristic of people who migrate. It is the result of a set of rules that pulls the ground out from under someone and then treats that as a trait of the person.
Anyone who has been through it was not fragile: she was put in a fragile position, and those are not the same thing.
The Step Up Migrant Women campaign collects other first-person accounts, including one from a Brazilian woman who arrived in 2015. We do not reproduce them here because they are their stories, not ours: the link is in the source, and they are worth reading.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Mafalda, speech in the UK Parliament, March 2019, via Step Up Migrant Women. Next review due 1 June 2027.This page starts with domestic abuse because that is what most people come looking for.
This page starts with domestic abuse because that is what most people come looking for. But the fullest research that exists on Brazilian women in London points somewhere else, and it is worth knowing.
The study We Can’t Fight in the Dark, by Professor Cathy McIlwaine of King’s College London, with LAWRS and People’s Palace Projects, surveyed Brazilian women in London and Rio.
Among those in London, 78% of the violence reported took place in the public sphere, not behind closed doors, and predominantly in the workplace. Just under a quarter came from an intimate partner. The most common form was emotional and psychological abuse.
And this figure explains why this page exists: 56% of the women who experienced violence in London never reported it, with the reasons given being English and immigration status, and the fear of deportation that comes with it.
An honest caveat about the sample: the authors themselves record that respondents tended to be more established, more educated and more likely to be white than the Brazilian community in London as a whole. The picture is real, but it is not a census.
Why it matters in practice: if what happened to you was at work, with a customer, a manager, a colleague, that counts. It does not have to have been at home, and it does not have to have been your partner. The organisations on this page cover both.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: McIlwaine and Evans, We Can’t Fight in the Dark, King’s College London with LAWRS and People’s Palace Projects, 2018. Next review due 1 June 2027.If your partner says he will report you to immigration, that he will have you removed, that without him you cannot stay, he is not describing reality.
If your partner says he will report you to immigration, that he will have you removed, that without him you cannot stay, he is not describing reality. He is using a tool, and it is a known and documented one.
The Step Up Migrant Women campaign, led by LAWRS, exists because of this. Imkaan’s Vital Statistics report found that 92% of migrant women had received threats of deportation from the perpetrator. LAWRS’s own Right to be Believed research found nearly 6 in 10.
It is a documented pattern, and it works because it isolates a person and makes her afraid to ask for help. The campaign’s own line puts it plainly: reporting to the police should not be more dangerous than staying with the perpetrator.
Recognising this does not resolve your immigration situation, but it changes the question. It stops being "am I allowed to complain" and becomes "who do I speak to first". The organisations on this page are listed for exactly that, work in Portuguese, and the call is free.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Step Up Migrant Women, LAWRS campaign; Imkaan, Vital Statistics; LAWRS, Right to be Believed. Next review due 1 June 2027.Reporting does not trigger an automatic immigration referral, and there is no legal barrier preventing information being shared.
It is the question that stops more women from seeking help than any other, and it deserves the exact answer rather than the comfortable one.
Reporting does not generate an automatic immigration referral. And there is no legal firewall preventing information being shared.
The Metropolitan Police says this, in these words, on its own page for people unsure whether to report:
"No matter what your immigration status, if you report a rape, sexual assault or other crime to us we’ll treat you as a survivor and victim of crime first. But if during an investigation we find out that you may be in the country illegally, we may share information with Immigration Enforcement, who will decide what to do."
The two easiest sentences are both false: neither 'the police will hand you over' nor 'they can never tell anyone'. The government has promised to require the victim’s agreement before sharing, but the review of June 2026 says the implementation was still being decided.
If you are in danger right now, call 999. This is not about an emergency: it is about the decision to make a report later, with time to think. For that decision it is worth speaking first to an independent organisation, in Portuguese, and deciding with your own situation in front of you.
Reporting is your right, and the choice is always yours.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Metropolitan Police victim guidance; post-legislative review of the Domestic Abuse Act, June 2026. Next review due 1 January 2027.This is established rule and few people know it. The legal basis is Regulation 9 of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015.
This is established rule and few people know it.
The legal basis is Regulation 9 of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015. It provides that the NHS in England cannot charge an overseas visitor for treating a condition caused by torture, female genital mutilation, domestic violence or sexual violence.
There is one condition, and only one: that the person did not travel to the UK for the purpose of seeking that treatment. Having fled violence to come here is not the same as having come to seek treatment.
The exemption covers physical and mental conditions, which includes mental health services, and in the case of sexual violence can include maternity care arising from it.
If a hospital raises charging, the point to make is that the treatment is attributable to the violence and that the Regulation 9 exemption should be assessed with the clinical team.
Note the limit: it exempts treatment linked to the violence, not everything.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Regulation 9, NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015; DHSC guidance. Next review due 1 May 2027.The condition covers a defined list of benefits. There is a three-month concession for migrant victims, and the council’s duty to a child applies whatever the status.
If you have been told that the no recourse to public funds condition means there is no refuge and no help for you, that is too broad and may not be true in your case. The condition affects a defined list of benefits and social housing. It does not turn everything into forbidden.
There is a specific concession for migrant victims of domestic abuse which, for those who qualify, gives three months of independent temporary permission and access to public funds during that time. There is a settlement route for victims in certain categories.
There is a free application to have the condition lifted on some routes. There is a government-funded programme, run by Southall Black Sisters, for migrant victims in this position. There is a specific route for someone deliberately abandoned abroad as part of the abuse, allowing an application from outside the UK.
And where there is a child, the council’s duty to safeguard a child in need continues regardless of status. Which of these applies depends precisely on your situation, and that is why it is worth speaking to people who do this every day.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: GOV.UK, cross-government NRPF guidance, August 2026; Home Office, migrant victims concession. Next review due 1 February 2027.
Who helps, and in which language
Worth knowing one thing before the list: the strongest organisations here were not made for Latin American women, they were made by them. LAWRS and LAWA are Latin American women’s organisations, built over decades by people who went through the same thing and decided to create what did not exist. Speaking Portuguese or Spanish in them is not an accommodation: it is the language of the house.
And it works. According to LAWRS’s own site, in the last year it supported more than 1,473 women, helped 259 survivors of violence reach safety, and gave 996 sessions of advice on benefits, housing, debt and employment rights. Of the women they saw, 93% came away knowing more about their own rights and 85% reported improved wellbeing.
LAWRS
Specialist service for Latin American women, free and confidential. The violence against women team covers domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking and exploitation, with risk assessment, safety planning, accompaniment, emotional support and referrals for housing, benefits and family and immigration law.
It is an independent charity, not government.
Latin American Women’s Aid, LAWA
For when the immediate problem is somewhere to go. LAWA runs confidential refuge accommodation across London for Latin American and other Black and minoritised women, with specialist work with children. A place depends on availability and assessment, so the practical step is to contact them rather than assume.
Respeito
Specialist domestic abuse support for the Portuguese-speaking community, delivered in our own language. Confidential one-to-one casework, safety planning, help with housing and benefits, legal and immigration signposting, and counselling. For adults aged 18 and over.
The Havens
The NHS service for anyone who has experienced rape or sexual violence, with centres in Camberwell, Whitechapel and Paddington. Medical care, forensic examination and support, free and confidential. You do not need to have decided about the police: you can go directly.
If the assault was recent, medical care should not wait for any other decision. 020 3299 6900.
24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, Rape Crisis
A free, confidential line about sexual violence, 24 hours a day, for people aged 16 and over, of any gender, whatever your immigration status. Interpreting is available, including for people who are worried or unsure about their own immigration situation. By phone, 0808 500 2222, or online chat.
Solace Women’s Aid
London charity for domestic abuse and sexual violence: advice, advocacy, refuge and counselling. Telephone and face-to-face support can use an interpreter, though not all specialist counselling can work through one.
Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline
For labour exploitation, trafficking and modern slavery. Free, confidential, every day: 08000 121 700, with an interpreter if you need one. Asking for advice on this line is not the same thing as entering the government’s official identification system.
Southall Black Sisters
Runs a government-funded programme for migrant domestic abuse victims subject to the no recourse to public funds condition. It can involve accommodation, subsistence, counselling and immigration support. 020 8571 0800.
What does not depend on your visa
Rights that already exist in law, each with its official source. This site gives no immigration advice and says nothing about anyone’s situation: what is here is only what the rule already guarantees to any person.
This applies whatever your situation
Plenty of people avoid a doctor, a school or help out of fear, and it is that fear itself that does the damage. The things below do not depend on your visa and are nobody’s favour: they are the rule, and each one has its official source at the end of the block.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: NHS; GOV.UK; see each item.GP registration cannot be refused for lack of ID, proof of address, an NHS number or immigration status, and it is free.
GP registration cannot be refused for lack of ID, proof of address, an NHS number or immigration status, and it is free. Since 2018 the NHS has stopped sharing personal data with the Home Office for immigration enforcement. The GP and treatment in A&E are free for everyone.
Two caveats, because they matter. If you are admitted after A&E, that treatment can be charged to someone who is not ordinarily resident. And an NHS debt of more than £500, unpaid for more than two months after the invoice, is reported to the Home Office and can count against a visa application.
The rules are in the NHS charging guidance.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: NHS, how to register with a GP.Sexual health, HIV and contraception: free for everyone
Diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections are free to anyone in England, whatever their status. HIV testing, treatment and prevention are too, including PrEP. So are contraception and family planning. Sexual health clinics take direct self-referral, with no GP and no referral needed.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: NHS, visitors who do not need to pay.Antenatal care, birth and postnatal care are classed as immediately necessary, which means they cannot be refused or delayed over charging, whatever your status.
Antenatal care, birth and postnatal care are classed as immediately necessary, which means they cannot be refused or delayed over charging, whatever your status.
There can be a charge afterwards for someone who is not ordinarily resident, and a debt like that above £500, unpaid for two months, is reported to the Home Office. That is exactly why Maternity Action exists. What should never happen is skipping antenatal care out of fear of the bill.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Maternity Action.A child is entitled to a state school place, and your immigration status does not prevent enrolment.
A child is entitled to a state school place, and your immigration status does not prevent enrolment. The application goes through your borough council, and arriving outside the school year the process is called in-year admission.
And before school age there is something else few people know: the 15 hours a week of childcare for three and four year olds is universal in England and applies regardless of immigration status, because it counts as early education rather than as a benefit.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: GOV.UK, school admissions.Work: being exploited is not the price of anything
Anyone being exploited, threatened or not paid can find specialist help, free, and does not have to sort it out alone. LAWRS supports Latin American women in Portuguese and Spanish and has worked on employment rights for decades. IRMO supports the Latin American community in Lambeth.
Both are independent organisations, not government. They are on this same page.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: LAWRS; IRMO.This is the point that costs our community the most money. In the UK, giving immigration advice or providing immigration services without being registered is a criminal offence under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, carrying up to two years.
This is the point that costs our community the most money. In the UK, giving immigration advice or providing immigration services without being registered is a criminal offence under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, carrying up to two years.
The regulator is the Immigration Advice Authority, or IAA, called the OISC until January 2025. There is a free public search on GOV.UK to check whether a person or firm is genuinely registered. Before paying anyone presenting themselves as a despachante, consultant or adviser, look their name up on it.
A lawyer admitted to the OAB in Brazil is not automatically authorised to give immigration advice here.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: Immigration Advice Authority, GOV.UK.It is worth knowing who you are talking to, because people confuse them. LAWRS, IRMO, Maternity Action and Citizens Advice are independent organisations and are not part of the British government.
It is worth knowing who you are talking to, because people confuse them. LAWRS, IRMO, Maternity Action and Citizens Advice are independent organisations and are not part of the British government. The consulate and the embassy are the Brazilian government.
The council, HMRC and the Home Office are the British government. The NHS is a British public service, and since 2018 it does not pass personal data to the Home Office for immigration enforcement; the exception is debt for chargeable care, explained in the GP item.
This is not advice about who to speak to: it is just so you know what each one is.
Checked on 22nd Aug 26 Source: NHS England; GOV.UK; the organisations’ own sites.Food banks and baby banks are not government benefits, and they are not on the GOV.UK list of public funds, the list of what a visa with NRPF does not allow you to claim.
Food banks and baby banks are not government benefits, and they are not on the GOV.UK list of public funds, the list of what a visa with NRPF does not allow you to claim. They are usually run by charities and community groups. The Mayor of London’s page about them says:
“You do not usually need to be claiming benefits to receive support. Many organisations also support people with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), although the support available and referral arrangements vary.”
You almost always need a referral, the voucher. The same page says who can give one: Citizens Advice, the local Family Hub, the GP or another health professional, the health visitor, a social worker, the council and some faith centres.
If you do not know where to start, Trussell’s Help through Hardship line is free: 0808 208 2138, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and you can ask for an interpreter. For children up to 5, Little Village gives clothes, prams and nappies in 15 boroughs, among them Brent, Lambeth, Southwark and Haringey.
The referral is made by a professional, such as a health visitor, midwife or social worker.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Mayor of London, food, baby and fuel banks; GOV.UK, public funds; Trussell; Little Village. Next review due 6 April 2027.The Department for Education has extended free school meals to children of families with NRPF, as long as income is below a threshold.
The Department for Education has extended free school meals to children of families with NRPF, as long as income is below a threshold. The official list includes people on work visas, student visas, spouse visas and also those with no immigration status.
The yearly income thresholds for the whole household, in London: £31,200 with one child and £34,800 with two or more. Savings cannot be over £16,000. You apply through the school or the council, on a form where the family declares its income and its own immigration category. It is worth knowing that before you fill it in.
The government’s guidance to councils says free school meals are not a public fund. And two rules apply to everyone: in state schools, meals are free for every child from reception to year 2, and since the 2026 to 2027 school year every child in a household on Universal Credit is entitled.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Department for Education, free school meals for families with NRPF; GOV.UK, apply for free school meals. Next review due 6 April 2027.Debt advice does not have to cost anything. These lines are free: StepChange: 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 2pm.
Debt advice does not have to cost anything. These lines are free:
• StepChange: 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 2pm.For the self-employed, it points you to Business Debtline.
• National Debtline: 0808 808 4000.
• Citizens Advice debt helpline: 0800 240 4420, Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm, Saturday 9.30am to 1pm.There is a government scheme few people know about, Breathing Space. For up to 60 days, creditors cannot contact you about the debt, add interest or charges, or take enforcement action. A debt adviser applies for you.
The requirements on GOV.UK are about living in England or Wales, not being in a formal insolvency arrangement and not having used Breathing Space in the last 12 months. They say nothing about visas.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: GOV.UK, Breathing Space; StepChange; National Debtline; Citizens Advice. Next review due 6 April 2027.This is the hard part, and it is worth knowing before you need it. Councils’ emergency fund since April 2026, the Crisis and Resilience Fund, generally counts as a public fund.
This is the hard part, and it is worth knowing before you need it. Councils’ emergency fund since April 2026, the Crisis and Resilience Fund, generally counts as a public fund. The fund’s own guidance says people with NRPF usually cannot get its crisis payments, and never its housing payments.
The exception it sets out is when there is a concern for a child’s welfare: then the payment can be made under another law, section 17.
That law is section 17 of the Children Act 1989, which requires the council to act when there is a child in need. The government’s guidance to councils says it plainly:
“This duty applies equally to children in families subject to an NRPF condition and those with no lawful status.”
You ask children’s services at the council where the family lives. Each council assesses the case in its own way, and it helps to go with one of the free organisations on this page.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Government guidance to councils on NRPF; Crisis and Resilience Fund guidance for councils. Next review due 6 April 2027.
If you came here to study, start with your own university, because it is the closest and fastest support there is. Almost every large London university has free counselling, mental health support, visa guidance and sometimes emergency financial help, all already paid for inside your fees. And there are Brazilian student societies at Queen Mary, King’s College, the LSE and Imperial, listed below: they generally welcome people from outside the university at events, and it is the quickest way to meet other Brazilians who arrived when you did.
How to find your people, without depending on this list. Student societies change committee every year, change Instagram account, and sometimes vanish for a year and come back the next, so any list of handles ages fast, including ours. What does not change is the route: look on your university’s students’ union website, which lists societies officially and keeps the page up between one committee and the next; go to the freshers’ fair in the first fortnight of the academic year, which is when they recruit; and search Instagram for brazilian society plus your university name. If your university does not have one, many welcome people from outside at events, so it is worth writing to the nearest. Found one that is not here, or one that has died? Write to us.
Scams: how to spot them and where to report
The scams that most often catch people who have just arrived: rooms, jobs with a visa, agencies, fake messages and borrowed accounts. Each item says what the official body says, and who to call.
See the place in person before paying, get the landlord’s name and contact details, and ask for a receipt. A holding deposit is never more than one week’s rent.
A good cheap room, an owner who cannot show it right now and asks for a deposit to hold it: Citizens Advice says do not pay anything if you have not seen the property, because there is a risk the offer is a scam.
Before paying anything:
• see the place in person;
• get the name and contact details of the landlord or letting agent;
• get a receipt for every payment.The figures help you spot when something is wrong. A holding deposit cannot be more than one week’s rent, and the tenancy deposit is usually no more than five weeks. And since May 2026 a landlord or agent cannot ask for or accept more than the advertised rent: if they ask, you can report it to the council.
The new renting rules, since May 2026, are on the Home page.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Citizens Advice, how much it costs to rent. Next review due 1 May 2027.The Home Office says a genuine employer would never ask for payment to secure a visa. And an employer sponsoring a work visa must pay the certificate of sponsorship fee themselves.
A job offer in the UK with a visa included, for a fee, a deposit or a sponsor cost: the Home Office itself describes this scam on its fraud page.
“There are no shortcuts to working in the UK, and a legitimate employer would never ask for payment to secure a visa.”
The same page says the Home Office never asks for payment by email, at a visa centre or into a personal bank account, and that official sites end in .gov.uk.
The rule for employers is clear too: an employer sponsoring a Skilled Worker must pay the certificate of sponsorship fee themselves, and can lose their licence if they ask the worker to pay it or any costs of the application.
This site gives no immigration advice. Before paying anyone who offers a visa, check that they are registered: the item on who may charge for immigration advice, further up this page, shows how.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Home Office, fraud, tricks and scams; GOV.UK, certificates of sponsorship. Next review due 6 April 2027.An employment agency cannot charge you for finding work. A passport taken, housing forced on you by the employer and a debt that never ends are signs of exploitation: Fair Work Agency, 0800 432 0804, with an interpreter.
Charging workers to find them a job is banned. The government’s guidance for agencies says:
“Employment agencies and businesses are prohibited from charging fees to workers for finding or trying to find them jobs.”
The exceptions are for performers, some entertainment work and models.
The Fair Work Agency, the government body for rights at work, lists signs of serious exploitation. Among them: having your passport taken, being forced to live in the employer’s accommodation, having wages withheld and working to pay off a debt that keeps growing.
To report: the online form or 0800 432 0804, a free call, with an interpreter if needed. The agency says it will not share your details with anyone you report. In immediate danger, 999. The independent Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, run by the charity Unseen, is 08000 121 700.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Fair Work Agency, report serious abuse or exploitation at work; Conduct Regulations 2003 guidance; Unseen. Next review due 6 April 2027.HMRC never threatens arrest and never asks for payment in gift vouchers. A suspicious text: forward it to 7726, free. A suspicious email: report@phishing.gov.uk.
HMRC, the UK tax authority, says what it never does: threaten arrest or ask for payment in gift vouchers. A message that rushes you, threatens you, offers a refund or asks for bank details deserves suspicion.
What to do with what arrives:
• A suspicious text: forward it to 7726, free. If it claims to be from HMRC, you can also send it to 60599.
• A suspicious email: forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk. If it claims to be from HMRC, to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk.
• Do not click the link, do not reply and do not confirm any details.If you have lost money, the route is in the item on what to do after a scam, further down.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: HMRC, identify tax scam calls, emails and texts; GOV.UK, report suspicious emails and websites. Next review due 6 April 2027.Letting someone else use your account to move money makes you a money mule. The police say it is a crime, with up to 14 years in prison.
The offer sounds harmless: someone asks to receive a transfer into your account and pass it on, sometimes leaving you a share. It can come through a job advert, social media or someone you know. The police call this being a money mule.
“It is a criminal offence to let someone use your bank account for this activity and you could face a prison sentence of up to 14 years if caught.”
The National Crime Agency warns that recruiters target students, particularly international students. Its advice: break off all contact, do not receive or move any money, and ask someone you trust for advice. To report without giving your name, Crimestoppers, an independent charity, is on 0800 555 111.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Ask the Police, what is a money mule; National Crime Agency. Next review due 6 April 2027.Call your bank straight away, on a number you trust or on 159. A scam bank transfer made since October 2024 is usually refunded up to £85,000, if you claim within 13 months.
The first call is to your bank. Use a number you trust, such as the one on the back of your card, or call 159. The faster you are, the better the chance of stopping the money.
For a bank transfer made because of a scam, there has been compulsory reimbursement since 7 October 2024, overseen by the Payment Systems Regulator:
• up to £85,000 per claim;
• you must claim within 13 months of making the payment;
• the money usually comes back within 5 business days of the claim, and the bank can deduct no more than £100, never from a vulnerable customer;
• it covers payments by Faster Payments or CHAPS, between UK accounts.Money sent through services such as MoneyGram or Western Union is unlikely to come back, says the government’s Stop! Think Fraud campaign.
The regulator says that, as part of the claim, you should report it to the police or let your bank report it for you. Fraud in England is now reported to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud in December 2025: reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. The next item says what the police do with immigration information.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: Payment Systems Regulator; Stop! Think Fraud, GOV.UK; GOV.UK, Report Fraud. Next review due 6 April 2027.The police do not routinely check the status of someone reporting a crime. But if an officer suspects an immigration offence, the national guidance says the police will share the details with the Home Office.
Many people lose money and stay quiet out of fear. The exact answer is in the guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the NPCC, on victims and witnesses:
“Officers will not routinely search police databases for the purpose of establishing the immigration status of a victim/witness or routinely seek proof of their entitlement to reside in the UK.”
“When a victim/witness is suspected by an officer of being an immigration offender, the police will share information about them with the Home Office.”
The review date printed on that document, April 2024, has passed, and we have not found a newer published version. The Metropolitan Police say something similar, and their words are in the item on going to the police, in the violence section of this page. This site does not say what to do in your case.
The free immigration organisations on this page can help you think it through before you decide.
Checked on 27th Sept 26 Source: NPCC, information sharing with Immigration Enforcement. Next review due 6 April 2027.
Where to look
Immigration and legal
Praxis
Free immigration advice in London, prioritising people on very low income or in vulnerable situations. In some cases they take on representation.
RAMFEL
Free legal advice, representation and practical support for migrants, across London and Essex.
Law Centres Network
A Law Centre is a not-for-profit legal practice with regulated solicitors, advising free on immigration, housing, employment and benefits. There are several across London: this link finds your nearest.
Latin American House
Priory House, 10 Kingsgate Place, NW6 4TA. Latin American community centre in Kilburn, with support and referrals in Portuguese and Spanish.
GOV.UK adviser finder
The official search to check whether an immigration adviser is registered.
IRMO
Latin American organisation in Brixton, nearly 40 years old, supporting more than 4,000 people a year. Everything is delivered in Portuguese and Spanish: immigration, benefits, housing, eviction, schooling, English classes and employment. Phone 020 7733 9977, Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm.
Law Society: find a solicitor
The official search for solicitors in England and Wales, by legal issue and postcode. After the first search, you can filter for solicitors who speak your language and who offer legal aid. A result is not a recommendation: check the SRA register before hiring.
SRA: check a solicitor
The Solicitors Regulation Authority public register. It shows whether a person or firm is regulated, and any published disciplinary decision.
Work and employment rights
LAWRS
Free, confidential service for Latin American women, with its own site in Portuguese. Employment rights, housing, benefits. Free helpline 0808 145 4909, Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 1pm. Appointments in Islington (52-54 Featherstone Street, EC1Y 8RT) and Southwark (48 Addington Square, SE5 7LB).
Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline
For labour exploitation, a withheld passport, debt that never ends and trafficking. Free, confidential, every day: 08000 121 700, with an interpreter if you need one.
Housing
Shelter
Free advice on renting, eviction, deposits, repairs and homelessness in England. Free helpline 0808 800 4444, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, closed at weekends and on bank holidays. They can get an interpreter on the call: say you need one, and the language.
Professional and student networks
Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain
Brazil and UK business organisation: networking, seminars and events. Useful if you are self-employed or want professional contacts.
Grupo Mulheres do Brasil, London chapter
A network of Brazilian women in London, for work, a business, and each other. The page has discussion events on running a business, a welcome guide and documents about Brazilian women in the UK. No fixed address.
Brazilian Society, Queen Mary
Brazilian society at Queen Mary in Mile End: cultural nights, food and language exchange. The Brazilian university hub in east London.
Brazilian Society, King’s College London
King’s Brazilian society in central London, with events for students.
Brazilian Society, LSE
LSE Brazilian society, combining cultural activity with professional panels and contact with Brazilian firms in London.
Brazilian Society, Imperial College
Imperial’s Brazilian society in South Kensington, on the official students’ union page.
Women
National Domestic Abuse Helpline
The national domestic abuse line, run by Refuge. Free, confidential, 24 hours: 0808 2000 247, or live chat on the site. It talks in many languages.
Respeito
Confidential domestic abuse support for the Portuguese-speaking community, in Portuguese, for adults aged 18 and over.
Rape Crisis
Rape and sexual abuse support line, 24 hours, free: 0808 500 2222, or live chat. For anyone 16 or over, whatever their immigration status. Interpreters available.
The Havens
The NHS service in London for anyone who has experienced rape or sexual violence: medical care, forensic examination and support, with no need to decide about the police first. 020 3299 6900.
NHS: find a sexual health clinic
Official search for a clinic near you. Direct access, no GP and no referral needed.
Maternity Action
Organisation specialising in the rights of migrant pregnant women, including NHS maternity charging.
Latin American Women’s Aid
Refuges and specialist support. It also runs a service by and for LBTQ+ Latin American women. Phone 020 7275 0321.
MinA, Migrants in Action
A community theatre group by and for Brazilian women in London who have experienced gender-based violence. It uses Theatre of the Oppressed, the method of Brazilian practitioner Augusto Boal, to create a safe space where women can tell their own story. Refers on to LAWRS and LAWA when needed. Founded and led by Brazilian women.
Step Up Migrant Women
A LAWRS campaign, backed by more than 50 organisations, for safe reporting routes for migrant women. Not a frontline service: it is where the research and the first-person accounts are.
Women Resisting Violence, podcast
A podcast from the Latin America Bureau with King’s College London on women confronting gender-based violence, with an episode on the Brazilian community in London. Available in Portuguese as well as English and Spanish. It is for listening and understanding, not a frontline service.
Migrant Women Press
An independent outlet made by migrant and racialised women, writing their own stories instead of being written about. To read, and if you write, to contribute to.
LGBT+
Galop
Support for LGBT+ people facing domestic abuse, sexual violence, conversion practices or any other kind of abuse. Free helpline 0800 999 5428, for over 18s, or help@galop.org.uk. Monday and Tuesday 9.15am to 8pm, Wednesday to Friday 9.15am to 4.30pm, closed 1pm to 2pm. Translation available.
Switchboard
An LGBTQIA+ support line. 0800 0119 100, every day 10am to 10pm, or hello@switchboard.lgbt.
Rainbow Migration
Free, confidential legal advice for LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum, and for those who want to live in the UK with their partner. Help with housing and health for people going through asylum. hello@rainbowmigration.org.uk or 020 3752 5801.
Community
Frente Preta UK
A collective of Black Brazilians in London, against racism and for the visibility of the community in the UK.
POLH-UK
Network of Portuguese heritage language schools in the UK. Saturday classes and cultural activities.
Brazilian documents
Consulate-General of Brazil in London
Passports, documents, civil registry and consular assistance.
Consulate-General of Brazil in London: appointments
Passports, birth registration, powers of attorney, voter registration. By appointment only, booked through the online system.
Health
NHS 111
When it is urgent but not an emergency, 24 hours, by phone or online. Interpreter available on request.
Samaritans
To talk to someone when things feel too much, at any hour. Free from any phone, even with no credit: 116 123. If a life is at immediate risk, 999.
If I leave, can I support myself?
Control of money is among the factors in abuse most often named by organisations serving Brazilian women in London, and the argument is always the same: you cannot manage without me. This does not answer whether you should leave. It only answers what the state pays a woman living on her own, with or without children, so you have a real number instead of his.
Enter the rent to see the arithmetic.
The rent cap depends on your postcode and how many bedrooms you are allowed. Under 35 without children, it is usually only the room in a shared house rate; with one child, two bedrooms. The options show the lowest and the highest cap in London for each size, on the 2026 to 2027 rates, to give a scale. Check yours on the government site: Look up the cap by postcode
This sum is for someone who can receive public funds. A visa with no recourse to public funds, and several others, change the whole number. The rule is on GOV.UK, and the organisations on this page will read the case with you. What counts as public funds
Checking a Brazilian professional
We do not keep a list of professionals and we recommend nobody. What we can do, and it is worth more, is show you where to check the person you have already found. Every one of these registers is public, free, and takes under a minute.
Ask for the full name and the registration number, and check it yourself. Anyone serious gives you both without hesitating. Someone who stalls on the number has already answered your question.
Solicitor SRA
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
"Solicitor" is a protected title. Anyone not on the Solicitors Regulation Authority roll cannot use it, nor carry out reserved legal work. Search by name or by firm.
For anyone looking for a Brazilian lawyer, the distinction matters. A lawyer qualified in Brazil, with an active OAB registration, can register here as a Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL). That is a real registration, it appears on the same site, and the person is regulated by the SRA.
But an RFL is not a solicitor. They can advise on Brazilian law, do unreserved work, and do some reserved work under the supervision of a solicitor within an authorised firm. Alone, an RFL cannot conduct litigation, cannot appear in open court, and cannot do immigration work unless separately registered for it.
In Portuguese both are "advogado". When you check the register, read what it says next to the name: Solicitor or Registered Foreign Lawyer. They are different things, and both are legitimate.
Immigration adviser IAA (OISC)
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
Read this one before any other. Giving immigration advice in the UK without registration, or without being a solicitor or barrister, is a criminal offence, not a technicality. People charge the Brazilian community a lot to fill in visa forms with no registration at all, and a lost visa usually does not come back.
The regulator changed its name on 16 January 2025: the old OISC is now the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA). Same register, same rules, and existing registrations carried over. You will see both names around.
Watch how the person describes themselves too. Someone without registration rarely says "I am not registered": they say document consultant, visa specialist, paralegal, adviser or despachante. None of those titles authorises anyone to give immigration advice. If an advert avoids the words registered, IAA, OISC or solicitor and uses one of those instead, ask for the number before going further.
And being registered is not enough on its own: check the level. Level 1 covers straightforward visas and the EU Settlement Scheme. Level 2 covers complex casework including asylum and human rights. Level 3 can represent you at tribunal. A Level 1 adviser cannot touch your asylum case, even though they are registered.
Accountant ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA
Not a protected title: anyone may use it
"Accountant" is not a protected title: anyone may legally call themselves one. What separates them is professional membership. Look for ACCA, ICAEW or CIMA, and check the register of whichever body they name. For audit and some filings, qualification is mandatory.
Doctor GMC
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
Every doctor practising in the UK must be on the General Medical Council register with an active licence to practise. The register is public and also shows any restrictions.
Dentist GDC
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
Dentists, hygienists and dental technicians must be on the General Dental Council register. This applies to cosmetic procedures carried out by a dentist too.
Nurse or midwife NMC
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
"Nurse" and "midwife" are protected titles, on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register. A Brazilian técnico de enfermagem does not fall into this category.
Practitioner psychologist, physiotherapist, dietitian HCPC
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
The Health and Care Professions Council covers fifteen professions including practitioner psychologists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and dietitians. Note two things: "psychologist" on its own is not protected, but "practitioner psychologist" and titles such as "clinical psychologist" are; and "nutritionist" is not protected, "dietitian" is.
Architect ARB
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
"Architect" is protected by the Architects Registration Board. Someone designing without ARB registration cannot use the title, even if they do the work.
Mortgage broker, financial adviser FCA
Protected title: using it unregistered is illegal
Anyone advising on mortgages, investments or insurance must be FCA authorised, or a registered agent of someone who is. The Financial Services Register shows both, and it is the same register we recommend for checking a money transfer firm.
Marketing, design, technology, translation no mandatory register
Not a protected title: anyone may use it
These fields have no mandatory register in the UK, and no official list to check. That is how the professions work here. What you can do is ask for a portfolio, a previous client reference and, if it is a company, check Companies House, which is free and shows how long they have existed.
Updated 26th Sept 26
Beauty and aesthetics
Beauty and aesthetics in London
We take nothing to be listed.
What are you booking?
Premises licence: pick your borough
Updated 26th Sept 26
About
By Brazilians, for Brazilians
Brazilians have been in London for decades, but the growth is recent: in 2001 the Census pointed to just over fifteen thousand Brazilian-born people in the whole UK, and today the consulate talks about more than two hundred thousand Brazilians. Which means almost everything here today, the bakeries, the samba schools, the churches, the butchers, the Portuguese school on a Saturday morning, was built by this generation, from nothing, in a foreign language. Brasil Londres is simply an attempt to put all of it in one place.
Right now we charge nobody to appear here, and if that ever changes we will say so on this page. We are not lawyers, accountants or doctors, and we do not give advice. When something matters, we point you to people qualified to deal with it.
This is not the complete list, and it does not try to be. What we need already exists, scattered: a council page, a samba school’s Instagram, an NHS site, a consulate form. Nearly every line here links out, on purpose: their page stays right after ours goes stale.
If you run events and want to be listed, or you have found a link that is wrong or out of date, write to us.
We are not official
This site has no connection whatsoever to the Brazilian government, the consulate, the embassy, the British government or the NHS. We represent nobody and we provide no consular service. When we quote or link an official body, it is only so you can reach the source: whoever decides anything about your case is that body, not this site.
Your data
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Something wrong?
If you own a business or organisation named here and the information is wrong, out of date, or you simply do not want to appear, write to us and we will correct it or remove it. No argument and no bureaucracy. The same goes for any link, figure or date.