Nearly 1,000 Ukrainian families who have applied for visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme of the United Kingdom government are still waiting for applications to be processed more than a month after their submission.
A future host, Lauren Corbisley, who set up a protest group over the delays, said not issuing visas to some of the candidates at the start of the scheme was “torture” for families. She called on the government to launch a public inquiry into what went wrong.
A group of future hosts protested in front of parliament on Monday and met with lawmakers, including Theresa May and Steve Baker. They presented to the deputies a dossier of 986 cases for which visas have been applied for but have not yet been issued. Of these, 866 applied in the first two weeks of the scheme, which started on March 18th.
The government did not respond to allegations by UK hosts and Ukrainian families that visa applications submitted at the beginning of the scheme had gone astray, instead stating that the Home Office now handles thousands of cases a day.
Two of the protesters in parliament, Debbie and Trevor Farnfield, helped the family, which they hope to sponsor, apply for visas on March 24. The family fled Ukraine to Poland and slept on mattresses in a gym near Warsaw. The parents and both children received visas, but the third brother and sister did not, which means that the whole family could not travel to the United Kingdom. The Farnfield family is holding photos of the family protesting in Westminster.
“We wanted to help Ukrainian refugees because we have a family-sized home, but our whole family no longer lives there,” said Debbie Farnfield. “We could not live with our conscience if we did not help.”
They and the family they want to support are disappointed with the delays. “The visa system has become a national disgrace,” said Trevor Farnfield.
Joe Wright, a wheelchair user, is trying to receive Ukrainian Paralympian Svetlana Trifonova and her two children. Wright has an affordable home and wants a disabled Ukrainian so he can take advantage of it.
“The family lives in a three-story building without an elevator, so Svetlana’s sons carry her up and down the stairs,” Wright said. “We booked their flight to the UK today, but we’re still waiting for visas, so we had to cancel the flight.”
Visas for Trifonova and her older son have been processed, but the family is still waiting for a visa for the younger son.
A group called Vigil for Visas is calling on the government to simplify the visa process, allow applications to be tracked in real time and put an end to delays they say could be deadly for people trapped in the military. zone.
Korbishli’s group, Protest Against Missing Visa Applications March 18-25, 2022, is another focus on the problems that many have with obtaining visas to the United Kingdom.
A government spokesman said: “Thanks to the generosity of the public who offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war, and through Ukraine’s family scheme, more than 71,800 visas have been granted, with 21,600 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK. The Interior Ministry is now processing thousands of visas a day – this shows that the changes made to streamline the service are working and we will continue to build on this success so that we can speed up the process even more. “
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