British qualify to receive American support (8)

I believe the answer is:

baluster

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'support' is the definition.
(baluster is a kind of support)

'british qualify to receive american' is the wordplay.
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in 'BBC').
'qualify' becomes 'alter' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to receive' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'alter' placed around 'us' is 'aluster'.
'b'+'aluster'='BALUSTER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for baluster that I've seen before include "Set of posts supporting a rail" , "pillar of support" , "Pillar supporting a rail, may be rustable" , "Rail hold-up" , "column" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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