MORE than 1,000 Ukrainians have so far applied to seek refuge in Scotland, according to the latest figures.
The Scottish Government is acting as a “super-sponsor” which means any refugees choosing to come here won’t need to name an individual sponsor before they arrive.
But the First Minister yesterday hit out at the Home Office, saying there was still a problem with visa delays.
Yesterday saw the Scottish Government announce three new welcome hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cairnryan, providing hot meals, translation services and trauma support for those who have just arrived.
Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “We continue to be horrified by the illegal war in Ukraine. We are ready to extend the warmest of Scottish welcomes to those fleeing the war. We've been working rapidly with a range of partners to ensure that displaced Ukrainians arrive at a place of safety and security.
"We've established welcome hubs at key entry points to support people with what they need immediately on arrival as well as to assess their medium to longer-term needs.
“And we're working with COSLA to provide accommodation as well as exploring all available public and private sector hosting options and of course, offers from the public who have generously offered to open their own homes.”
The First Minister said now that Scotland had the support in place, it was up to the Home Office to sort "the bit in the middle" and get the visa applications processed so that people can start arriving in numbers.”
She added: “What we need to see is a significant speeding up of the granting of visa applications in order that we see people come here and start to access the support that we have ready for them on a multi-agency basis."
Speaking earlier, to Holyrood’s external affair’s committee, Andy Sirel, legal director of JustRight Scotland, said the UK’s visa-based schemes were “long, bureaucratic and fundamentally insufficient”.
The latest data showed that showed that out of 66,000 applications for the Ukrainian visa schemes, 15,800 visas had been granted, he said.
This amounts to just 0.4 per cent of those who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, he added.
He told MSPs: “Most importantly, the eligibility criteria that (the schemes) have are quite strict.
“They do not capture individuals who are already in the UK for example, in precarious situations and who are concerned about their family members.”
Graham O’Neill, of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: “People are being traumatised by that visa-based response, as we’re seeing in the horror stories of delay across Europe and elsewhere.”
Neil Gray, the minister with special responsibility for refugees arriving from Ukraine, told the committee on Thursday, that Scotland had “chosen to act as a super-sponsor to short circuit the matching process and enable significant numbers of displaced Ukrainians to come to Scotland without unnecessary delay.”
He said the Government was working “flat out” to secure temporary and longer-term accommodation for those who need it.
Mr Gray added: “As the First Minister said at the weekend, we will treat people with compassion, dignity and respect and Scotland will be their home for as they long as they need it to be.”
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