Growing Pressure To Waive Visas For Ukrainian Refugees

The Ukrainian ambassador has urged the British government to temporarily lift all visa requirements for those fleeing his country, with pressure increasing on ministers to act over a system that has been heavily criticised.

- May Bulman

Around 850 people have so far been issued a visa under the Home Office’s family migration scheme, announced on Friday – despite tens of thousands with family links to the UK applying.

Vadym Prystaiko said that if bureaucratic procedures were “simplified” it would “definitely resolve all the issues”. He told the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday: “I don’t expect many of them to come. I don’t want to see these pictures of people banging at the doors in Calais and scratching the doors which are quite sealed.”

Campaigners have accused the UK of “lagging behind” other European countries over its response to the Ukraine refugee crisis by welcoming a “pitiful” number of refugees in the first two weeks of the war. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman called for “immediate action” to enable refugees to get their cases dealt with swiftly by removing “unnecessary delays and bureaucracy” in the visa application process.

Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: “It is vital the Home Office acts to correct failings in its handling of visa applications, especially failings we have previously reported and which we are seeing repeated here.

“In this horrendous situation swift action is needed to make sure the process of getting a visa is simple, accessible and quick. Lives depend on it.”

Hundreds of Ukrainians have arrived in the French port town of Calais since the Russian invasion began in the hope of reaching their loved ones in Britain, but have not been allowed to apply to the scheme from there.