Ukrainian doctor in Coventry urges more visa help for family

Tania Hebert, left, said her cousin who has a young baby has not been able to get a visa to leave Ukraine

A doctor is urging the government to make it easier for more members of Ukrainian families to get visas to join relatives in the UK.

Tania Hebert, a doctor in Coventry, was born in Ukraine but relocated in 1993.

Several of her family are in Kyiv and have not been able to get a visa to leave since Russia invaded, Ms Hebert said.

"All these kind of restrictions and rules on visas are ridiculous," she added.

Among her relatives in Ukraine is her cousin who has a baby and Ms Hebert said she has been told she cannot get a visa.

"I would have her in my spare room, her and her husband easily, we have space for them, they speak English," she said.

The UK's visa offer to refugees has faced criticism that it could be more generous and the government has steadily increased its offer.

The scheme has been extended to parents, grandparents and siblings as well as "immediate family".

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Ms Hebert said her grandmother had been successful in getting a visa before the war started and joined them in the UK the day before the invasion began.

But she said the process needed speeding up and expanding to help as many people in Ukraine as possible.

"If they have contact, any contact, a friend, a relative [in England] who is willing to help, they should be able to come," she said.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was "doing everything possible" to speed up efforts to issue the travel permits.