UK faces refugee visa challenge

Govt accused of stopping Ukrainians entering country following reforms

Britain's home secretary, Priti Patel, could face legal action on behalf of people trying to flee Ukraine and come to the United Kingdom because of lengthy delays in receiving travel documentation.

The United Nations estimates that more than 11 million people have fled their homes since the conflict began in February, with around 5.3 million having left the country altogether.

European Union member states have said refugees can stay for up to three years without a visa, and that they are entitled to social welfare, housing, education and medical treatment.

Britain requires people to have visas to come to the country, and has been described by humanitarian organization the International Rescue Committee as being "an outlier" in Europe.

A lawyers' letter being sent to the Home Office will focus on 10 cases of Ukrainians who applied for visas when they first became available in mid-March, but are still waiting, with one of the cases involving a 10-year-old girl who applied at the same time as her mother, but so far only the mother's visa has come through.

After its initial response of a visa program for people with family members already in the UK was criticized, the government launched a system called Homes for Ukraine, where people could sign up to offer a place in their house to someone from Ukraine for at least six months.

In the first 24 hours, more than 100,000 people signed up, but The Guardian newspaper quotes government statistics showing that despite 86,100 visas being issued as of April 27 under the Ukraine Family and the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship programs, by April 25, just 27,100 Ukrainians had arrived in the country.

EU member state Ireland, which has visa-free access, has taken in around the same number of Ukrainians as the UK, despite having a population just one-thirteenth the size.

Anais Crane, who works for one of the law firms representing unaccompanied Ukrainian children, told The Guardian some were even considering giving up hope of trying to get out of the country because of the delays, and Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called stories of people being stuck in limbo the "dreadful but inevitable consequence" of a system he said had been "flawed from the start".

"Responding to what is clearly a serious humanitarian crisis with two visa routes … was always going to result in paper and bureaucracy being put before people and their needs," he said. "Tragically, we are now witnessing the fallout of that approach."

In reply, a government spokesperson defended the UK processing system.

"Over 86,000 visas have been issued so Ukrainians can live and work in the UK," they said.

"The changes the Home Office has made to streamline the visa system, including simplifying the forms and boosting staff numbers, are working and we are now processing visas as quickly as they come in — enabling thousands more Ukrainians to come through our uncapped routes."