Woman spends 11 hours filling out Ukraine visa forms

Jane Finlay said the process to house Ukrainian refugees was at times 'ridiculous'

A woman who took in four refugees has urged the government to drop the visa process after it took her 11 hours to fill in the forms.

Jane Finlay criticised the government for difficulties she had trying to bring over a family from Ukraine.

Ms Finlay, 56, said there was also "no assistance" from the government in finding a family to house.

The government said the visa scheme began in "record time" but acknowledged progress was "not good enough".

"I have a degree, three of the family members are graduates, and it still took us 11 hours to fill in the forms," Ms Finlay said.

"There's really generous members of the UK public trying to do something and the government has done absolutely nothing apart from set this website up where we register."

Ms Finlay turned to Facebook where she connected with a woman called Nadia who was looking for help.

"They had to provide information such as the father of the 16-year-old had to give written permission that she could leave the country, in English, but he's fighting in Ukraine, so it's a ridiculous thing to ask," Ms Finlay added.

She said parts of the questionnaire were "irrelevant" and the information being required in PDF format meant another layer of complexity.

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Nadia, whose last name has not been given for safeguarding reasons, was looking to seek refuge in the UK along with her 16-year-old daughter, her sister-in-law and her 31-year-old niece after Russia launched a war with Ukraine in February.

Once the visas were approved, Ms Finlay left her home in Cornwall and flew to Berlin on 21 March.

Ukrainian refugees arriving at border controls in Medyka, Poland

From there she travelled to the border in Medyka, Poland, with her friend Pete Jones to collect Nadia and her family before going to a visa processing centre in Berlin.

Ms Finlay said she eventually travelled with the family from Calais to Folkestone on 31 March - nine days after meeting them at the border.

The family has now settled with Ms Finlay and her partner Michael Whitehill in Cornwall.

A Government spokesperson said: "The Homes for Ukraine scheme was set up in record time but we acknowledge progress approving visas has not been good enough."

They added that changes have been made and the process "streamlined".

A partnership with the charity Reset Communities and Refugees had been set up to fund and provide a matching service for sponsors and refugees.