UK Blamed For ‘Dreadful' Treatment Of War Refugees

Frustration and confusion around the UK’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis continued yesterday as Priti Patel was accused of misleading parliament over arrangements for those trying to reach the UK via Calais.

- May Bulman

No 10 announced that hundreds of refugees who had travelled to the French town in the hope of reaching loved ones in Britain would have to make a 70-mile journey to Lille to apply for visas, despite previous suggestions that there would be a visa centre closer to the port. The Home Office has said that Ukrainian refugees can take free tickets offered by Eurostar to make the journey from Calais to Lille – but there are no journeys available on the Eurostar website between these two locations.

Concern meanwhile mounted around the bureaucratic process refugees are confronted with when trying to apply under the UK’s family migration route, as it emerged some are having to wait weeks to get a visa appointment, while others turned up to visa centres to discover that they were closed.

A lack of available appointment slots at visa centres in EU countries has meant some refugees are not currently able to apply for the new refugee scheme, under which Ms Patel has said tens of thousands of close relatives of British nationals and people settled in the UK will be eligible to come to Britain after it opened on Friday. MPs said there were no appointments in Paris until 15 March and none in Poland until the “end of the month”. The Independent has been in touch with Ukrainians who have said they have been unable to book an appointment. The Home Office has insisted that there are free appointments.