‘Diabolical’ UK visa scheme nearly forced family back to Ukraine

A UK sponsor from the Homes for Ukraine scheme has described the “diabolical” application process that nearly forced the refugees he is housing to return to a warzone.

Steve Dury from Langport, Somerset, was only able to accommodate two mothers and three children from Kharkiv, Ukraine, when his “desperate plea” led the Home Secretary’s office to intervene and see to the approval of the group’s final visa application for three-year-old Egor Svichkar.

Having applied for the scheme when it first opened on March 18, Egor’s four relatives had been staying in Warsaw and acquired their visas by the beginning of April, but a further delay left them waiting on Egor’s document until Monday.

Mr Dury said the group were met with an “impregnable wall of bureaucracy” during the process and they considered returning to Kharkiv – a city still enduring shelling from Russian forces.

“It’s been a diabolical process,” the local government officer, 59, told the PA news agency.

“They were actively discussing (going back to Ukraine) and were so dejected by the whole thing – which is heartbreaking to think that they were going to return to a warzone because they had given up hope of ever coming to the UK.

“They’re already traumatised, they spent days in the basement listening to the bombing around them, not knowing if their apartment was going to collapse on top of them… this (added) to their trauma.”

The group, who arrived at Bristol airport on Tuesday, includes Liudmyla Tarasenko and her 15-year-old daughter, Daria, and Liudmyla’s 27-year-old niece and Egor’s mother, Yulia Svichkar – as well as 13-year-old Denys Chemodanov, whose mother is related to the family and authorised the women to take him with them.

They were hoping to have the approval of Egor’s visa through on Friday April 1, but “lost all hope” when the centre in Warsaw made an administrative error – setting the application back by a week and a half.

Mr Dury paid more than £1,000 to keep the five of them housed in the Polish capital but was growing increasingly concerned for their wellbeing when Egor fell ill.

He said he felt “sheer relief” and “joy” when the toddler’s visa came through, but that they “would have gotten nowhere” without his emailing Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Mr Dury wrote to Ms Patel’s office on Sunday: “This dreadful ‘Homes for Ukrainians’ visa system is taking its toll.

“My family (is) in floods of tears today, just messaged me: ‘What kind of hell is this?’

“(They) are about to give up hope of coming to UK, and return to Ukraine, where they have no accommodation (and) no money.”

Mr Dury received a reply on Monday after a message from Ms Patel’s email address asked that the case be “followed up”.

A Home Office staff member wrote back: “Please pass on our apologies to the family for the delays in processing Egor’s visa application.”

“Egor’s visa was processed by caseworkers in Sheffield over the weekend and an instruction has now been sent to Warsaw to print the visa.”

Mr Dury said it should not take “high-level intervention” to ensure refugees are allowed to come to the UK.

“I think without my desperate plea to Priti Patel’s email, we’d still be waiting… We seemed to be banging our heads against a brick wall,” he said.

“And whilst I’m glad that (the Home Office) did step in… I’m more annoyed at the very long waits and the anxiety that it’s caused, particularly the Ukrainian family.

“Whether they’d ever get a visa, how long it was taking, the length of time they were staying in Warsaw. The little boy went down with a sickness because he got cold and wet.

“So I think their anxiety levels were sky-high as a result of this interminably long process… It should never have reached that stage.”

Mr Dury described the “mental torment” the group has been put through.

“We’ve been through the wringer for the last four weeks,” he said.

“Deeply frustrating, full of anxiety and concerned – those are the main emotions.

“I almost feel partly responsible for leading them to believe the Government line that this would be a quick process.”

Mr Dury also added the system feels “designed to deter” Ukrainians from coming to the UK.

“I know there are many, many, many others still waiting for their visas,” he said.

“And I don’t think Priti Patel is going to respond to every single person who’s waiting and anxious at the moment.

“It seems that this is designed to deter people from coming here.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We continue to process visas for the Homes for Ukraine scheme as quickly as possible, but accept progress has not been quick enough.

“The Home Office has made changes to visa processing – the application form has been streamlined, Ukrainian passport holders can now apply online and do their biometrics checks once in the UK, and greater resource has gone into the system.

“A UK Visas and Immigration helpline can provide information on eligibility and applications, and in cases of concern can escalate to teams who can look at the full case history and establish any issues.”