Ukrainian refugees heading for the UK are sleeping rough due to delays through red tape, expert warns
- ‘Nightmarish’ bureaucracy delays is forcing Ukrainian refugees to sleep rough
- Britons can sponsor refugees for a visa and offer them a free room in their house
- Getting a visa can take up to six weeks, leaving some stuck with no place to stay
Ukrainian refugees waiting for UK visas are being forced to sleep rough amid anger over red tape delays.
Host families have slammed the ‘nightmarish’ bureaucracy that is said to be prolonging the process for women and children who have fled the conflict.
And volunteers have warned that delays could be putting refugees at risk amid claims of trafficking.
Refugees who have fled Ukraine have been left waiting for UK visas, forcing them to sleep rough – angering many who have volunteered there homes (pictured: a refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine)
In Europe refugees have been staying in temporary shelters, such as the ballroom at the Mandachi hotel in Romania (pictured)
Under the first phase of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Britons can sponsor refugees for a visa and offer them a rent-free room in their house.
Once a host family has been found, refugees must complete visa application forms – providing identity documents and answers to detailed questions in English. There is then a further wait before the visa is issued, with government information saying the process can take up to six weeks.
Ruth McMenamin, a volunteer in Poland, said that UK-bound refugees were sleeping in train stations and emergency accommodation as they awaited permission to travel.
The marketing head, who works for a travel company in the UK, added: ‘There are dangers in having to wait around for applications to be processed as these women and children have nowhere to live. There are reports of trafficking.
‘The process needs to be sped up. Other countries are allowing people to go straight there.’
Although the first refugees under the scheme are due to arrive this week, host families have said they have ‘absolutely no idea’ how long the process will take.
The requirement of certificates is holding up refugees who want to come to the UK, forcing them to stay in temporary accommodation or worse while they wait (pictured: refugees in Stuttgart, Germany)
Lee Havenhand, 33, and his wife Rebecca, 30, are to share their three-bedroom home with a mother and two daughters.
The couple, who live near Doncaster were ‘matched’ with the family through a Facebook site and were inspired to help after having visited Ukraine regularly for holidays.
Engineer Mr Havenhand said he helped the family, from Lviv in western Ukraine, with the visa process by filling in the required forms for them. But he added: ‘It’s a good job we did because the forms are an absolute nightmare. They took us six hours because of the amount of information and evidence that is required.
‘It asks for children’s birth certificates – which is a problem for many people who have already fled their homes. They also ask for proof of father’s consent, which is not always possible if he has gone off to fight in the war.
‘It’s a shambles. We just have to cross our fingers that it is going to go through soon.’
A 58-year-old woman, who is to share her home in Derbyshire with a Ukrainian woman and two daughters, also said the process was ‘absolutely impossible’.
The married woman, who asked not to be named, said the refugees she had been matched with had travelled from a village near Lviv to Berlin but wanted to move to the UK as the elder daughter spoke English. However, the ‘traumatised’ family have been sleeping on the floor of a rest centre while they wait for visas.
‘There is no way on God’s given earth that they could have filled those forms in,’ she said. ‘There are huge risks because of the information and detail I had to give as well – certainly enough to steal your identity. To make it worse, nobody knows how long it will take.’
A government spokesman said it is making changes to the visa process so it is ‘quicker and simpler’ for Ukrainian refugees. These include expanding capacity at Visa Application Centres and allowing valid passport holders to miss in-person appointments.
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