Ukraine refugees: Patel apologises for UK visa delays

Home Secretary Priti Patel has apologised for the "frustrating" visa delays which have prevented thousands of Ukrainian refugees entering the UK.

Just over a quarter of those Ukrainians granted visas - 12,000 - have reached the UK so far, Ms Patel told BBC News.

Would-be sponsors of refugees have criticised the bureaucracy and ensuing delays in the Homes For Ukraine scheme.

Home Office figures published on Friday show the government has granted 41,000 visas to Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Of the visas granted:

• 28,500 were issued under the Ukraine Family Scheme

• and 12,500 under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme which allow people to sponsor Ukrainian refugees

In terms of arrivals into the UK:

• 10,800 have arrived under the family scheme

• and 1,200 under the sponsorship scheme

"I'll be very candid, it has taken time. Any new scheme takes time, any new visa system takes time," said Ms Patel.

"It's been frustrating," she admitted. "I apologise, with frustration, myself."

Ms Patel is the second government minister to apologise for the visa delays this week, following the refugees minister Lord Harrington, who told parliament that "not enough" visas had been issued.

Streamlined

The latest figures suggest there has been no significant increase in the speed of issuing visas to Ukrainian refugees, despite assurances that processes have been streamlined.

The Ukrainian Family Scheme had been issuing about 6,000 visas issued per week, but new data suggests that figure has fallen to just over 4,000 in the latest seven-day period.

The Homes for Ukraine Scheme has increased from 4,700 in the first two weeks of operation to almost 8,000 in the most recent week.

The Home Secretary has described the UK response to the war in Ukraine as "very generous".

However, the number of refugees physically arriving into the UK remains far below the numbers arriving in other comparable European countries.

The German government said earlier this week it had accepted 300,000 Ukrainians, with refugees crossing the country's open border with Poland - both countries are part of the Schengen area.

Meanwhile 20,000 refugees have arrived in Ireland, which is not part of the Schengen area

In March, the European Union granted Ukrainian refugees rights to live and work in the EU, and to access healthcare, housing and education immediately for up to three years without going through a formal immigration process.

"Germany is an EU country," said Ms Patel. "They don't have visa checks, their borders are open.

She said any comparison with the UK was "not like-for-like": "We are an independent third country, and we want to give people the status and security of coming to our country, along with the warm welcome."

Desperate wait

Fruit farmer Chris Tattersall, from Torrington in Devon, is waiting for visas to be approved for a refugee family he is sponsoring.

Mr Tattersall and his wife Anne said they had a long wait after submitting visa applications for a woman they had contacted named Elena, her elderly parents and young daughter.

Chris Tattersall (R) and his wife Anne have sponsored a Ukrainian family but complain that bureaucracy is causing delays

The family, who are waiting in Poland, were told the application had been accepted six days later.

"I've been worrying that six days for them is like six years," Mr Tattersall said.

"I don't know why the government wants to slow it down. There are people who are desperate. There are families sleeping on park benches, in freezing temperatures, in Poland.

"Why, when they could be on a train for free across Europe and come here?"

Elena (R) and her family are waiting in Poland for their UK documents to be approved

Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called the visa numbers "scandalous and shameful".

"Over 30,000 people with British sponsors waiting are still stuck in limbo, around half of whom have been waiting more than 10 days already to hear anything," said Ms Cooper.

"Behind these numbers are many desperate mothers and children in temporary accommodation or still sheltering in Ukraine.

"British families have offered Ukrainians sanctuary in their hour of need, but the Home Secretary is letting everyone down."

'Out of touch'

The Refugee Council accused the government of "choosing control over compassion", arguing that visas for Ukrainians should be waived in the short term.

"Asking Ukrainian families, who are scared, exhausted and traumatised, to fill out a long and complex visa application is unacceptable and totally out of touch with the terrifying situation they find themselves in," said the charity's chief executive Enver Solomon.

Priti Patel said she wanted to avoid a repeat of the Windrush scandal, in which people who moved to the UK from the Caribbean later faced deportation.

The Home Office kept no record of those granted leave to remain and issued no paperwork - making it subsequently difficult for Windrush arrivals to prove their legal status - and in 2010 destroyed landing cards belonging to those Windrush migrants, creating further problems.

Ms Patel also stressed the importance of security checks, while insisting those checks were not causing delays to the system.

"I see security and intelligence - not just advice, but reports - every single day. I know what is going on in the world. I know what is going on in the region. I know what Russia is capable of."