Comments
- No comments found
The Home Office Issued 2,700 Visas to Fleeing Ukrainian Refugees
The Home Office Issued 2,700 Visas to Fleeing Ukrainian Refugees
30/03/2022
2,700 visas have been granted for refugees coming to the UK as part of Homes for Ukraine.
Refugees are trying to flee Ukraine in their thousands amid the outbreak of war.
The UK government has known for months about the potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Lord Harrington, refugees minister, admitted the forms took "too long" to fill in and said the government was trying to speed up the process.
There has been criticism of the scheme since it was launched.
Charities said the process "is just too difficult" for those fleeing Ukraine.
The quickest way to help people would be for the UK to stop requiring visas for those fleeing Ukraine - and would bring it in line with many other countries which have done so since the crisis began, said the British Red Cross.
On top of the 2,700 Homes for Ukraine visas, a further 22,800 visas from 31,200 applications have been issued under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Home Office said. These are for those with close relatives living in the UK.
But even those with visas are not always being housed. Some refugees have been reporting themselves to councils as being homeless, the Local Government Association said.
The UK requires the refugees to have a visa before they enter, unlike other European countries which have waived the checks to speed things up. Those who are granted a visa under the scheme will be eligible to work, and can access state benefits and public services for three years.
Labour is calling for the process to be expedited, with Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, and shadow leveling up secretary Lisa Nandy writing to their government counterparts.
The UN refugee agency said more than four million refugees have now fled Ukraine since Russia launched its war, in the biggest refugee crisis since World War Two.
Lord Harrington said that the UK government hopes to be processing 15,000 applications per week within the next few weeks with the backlog beginning to clear.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme allows individuals, charities, community groups, and businesses in the UK to sponsor visas for Ukrainian refugees.
Trending
1 Government Survey: Half of UK Businesses Hit by Cyber Attacks
Daniel Hall2 Labour Announces Strategy to Fund NHS and Education Commitments by Cracking Down on Tax Dodgers
Fabrice Beaux3 National Insurance Cut Offset by Frozen Tax Thresholds
Anas Bouargane4 UK Government Faces Backlash Over Proposal to Criminalize Rough Sleeping
Riddhi Doshi5 The Role Machine Learning in Tracing Historical Events
Naveen Joshi
Related articles
BBN Times connects decision makers to you. Experts in their fields, worth listening to, are the ones who write our articles. We believe these are the real commentators of the future. We quickly and accurately deliver serious information around the world. BBN Times provides its readers human expertise to find trusted answers by providing a platform and a voice to anyone willing to know more about the latest trends. Stay tuned, the revolution has begun.
Leave your comments
Post comment as a guest