Legal Aid ACT is urgently trying to contact up to 32 asylum seekers in Canberra who face deportation under the federal government's new protection visa deadline.
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Legal Aid ACT's migration clinic coordinator Zouheir Dalati said the new deadline would impact about 7500 asylum seekers nationwide, but there were potentially up to 32 in the ACT who had not yet received legal support.
"If you know anyone in the community who arrived here by boat between 2012-13, please let them know they have a place to go," Mr Dalati said.
"They have until October 1 to lodge their application."
Mr Dalati said Legal Aid ACT would supply pro bono legal support to help asylum seekers complete their applications.
"The support we do in this space means that no asylum seekers in this vulnerable cohort in the ACT is without legal assistance in a really complex, difficult process," he said.
The asylum seekers weren't existing clients of Legal Aid and the organisation became aware of their existence after they were approached by stakeholders.
Mr Dalati said they didn't know if the asylum seekers were still in Canberra or if they'd moved interstate.
He said the process for protection visa applications was lengthy and included Legal Aid lodging freedom of information requests with the Department of Immigration.
These requests could take at least 30 days.
Some applicants may not have the money for a migration lawyer.
Others, because of language difficulties, may not be able to understand the application or any letters sent from the Department of Immigration.
Mr Dalati said the department would have the asylum seeker's most recent addresses but privacy constraints meant they and some community organisations couldn't pass on contact details to Legal Aid.
On Sunday, immigration minister Peter Dutton set an October 1 deadline for asylum seekers in Australia to submit protection visa applications.
Mr Dalati said a bar on applications had only been lifted by the government late last year.
Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power said the government was denying people legal advice and constantly shifting the goal posts.
"This process has been politically manipulated from the beginning," Mr Power said.
"It's important that they actually get the support they need to apply and put in the most accurate claim that they can."
