Ukrainian refugees facing immigration delays and red tape, says Scots lawyer

The 41-year-old mother and 39-year-old father, along with their four children aged 11, eight, six and nine-months-old, packed up what belongings they could into the car and left their home on the outskirts of Kyiv as fighting intensified.

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Mr Pall has been working on the case day and night to help the family reach Scotland but says the over-complicated process is not helping.

The family was left with no option but to sleep in their car for several nights in Germany until they could find temporary accommodation.

Refugees walk at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine.

The family of six has applied to come to the UK and have Scottish-based sponsor but their application is bogged down in red tape.

Latest figures show more than 20,000 visa applications have been made to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, but despite being pressed in Parliament the refugee minister was unable to say how many people had so far arrived.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme opened on March 14, with the aim of allowing individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to bring Ukrainians – including those with no family ties to the UK – to safety.

A woman evacuated from Irpin cries upon arriving on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.

However, Britain retains a visa requirement on security grounds while other European countries have waived checks in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion.

Mr Pall has been working with a number of families and individuals since the conflict began and has experienced first-hand the challenges of the UK visa structure.

Gurjit Pall, a solicitor with Thornton's, has been helping refugees with immigration issues

He said: “We have been helping a family who fled their home and wanted to come to the UK, but at that time they couldn’t as they didn’t have a relative here and they had to wait for the sponsorship scheme to come up.

“They are now applying from Germany where they are in limbo. We are now on day seven of the visa application for this family under the sponsorship scheme and we have still to be given a decision. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary delays for a system which the Home Secretary Priti Patel said would be well explained.”

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Advising people during the process has not been easy, added Mr Pall, who feels there have been too many delays and that there is a lack of clarity in the guidance from the Home Office.

He added: “This family have had to fill out six separate applications, and while there might have been a couple of errors made which is understandable given the circumstances. We have spoken to the Home Office on their behalf to explain these are errors which shouldn’t hold up an application, but we are still waiting.

“Applicants are being told to apply online for the schemes and if you have a valid Ukrainian passport you don’t need to apply for a biometric identity card, but if you don’t you then have to go to Visa Application Centres to do biometrics from abroad, but there are no instructions or advice.

“We have sponsors offering to take people in to their homes and families wanting to work but that opens up the issue of right to work permits, because from next month they can’t work without a valid biometric card.

“Even when an application is made, they have to go through it all again when they are here as within six months they need to apply again when they are in the UK. I think the Government should be doing more to help individuals and give them the knowledge to get through the process.”

Destroyed vehicles and buildings are seen in the town of Trostsyanets, Ukraine.

Mr Pall said they have a number of clients and businesses who have been in touch with them who want to help.

He added: “That is a reflection of the feeling here in the UK and Scotland on how people want to help Ukrainian nationals going through this.”

In the House of Lords earlier this week, Tory frontbencher Lord Harrington would only say that the Government will be publishing the answer on how many refugees had arrived very soon.

Acknowledging there were problems with the visa system, he underlined his commitment to speed up the process and pointed out the Home Secretary Priti Patel had been personally involved.

Lord Harrington also said the Government had secured permission to break the European working time directive in order for embassies to open seven days a week to deal with applications.

The minister was responding to an urgent question in the Lords over the take-up of the sponsorship scheme, including how many refugees had so far arrived since it was set up.

Lord Harrington told peers: “More than 20,000 applications have been received for the Homes for Ukraine scheme and we will be providing further information in due course.”

But independent crossbencher Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, who has herself applied to take in refugees, said: “I think the lack of information is extremely worrying.

“We have an ethical obligation of non-abandonment having given a commitment to stand with Ukraine and to offer sanctuary.

“Does the Government recognise that the visa process is causing great distress to already traumatised Ukrainians who have experienced cumulative losses, pervasive existential terror and mass bereavements, and are now increasingly at risk?

“The process is also increasingly frustrating to the tens of thousands of Britons who want to welcome them into their homes and will provide a long term commitment.”

Local residents watch shells after recent fights in the town of Trostsyanets, some 400km (250 miles) east of capital Kyiv, Ukraine.

Lord Harrington said: “I agree with much of the sentiments of what she has said. As far as the visa process is concerned, the only purpose for this is to provide security checks for this country. When I was given the job to do by the Prime Minister that was the only constraint.

“It’s my job to make sure the visa process is speeded up and in the last two weeks we have gone on to a system where those with Ukrainian passports can fill out the form and download the visa without having to go to a visa centre, which they did only two weeks ago.”