Ukraine: British teacher's wife faces 'shameful' visa wait

Teacher Harry Richardson's wife Alina has been waiting for a UK visa after escaping warzone Ukraine

A British man who fled Ukraine with his wife and stepdaughter says he has been waiting more than two weeks for a UK visa for his partner.

The family is in Moldova, to where they escaped after sheltering from Russian troops in a university basement.

Harry Richardson, a teacher from Leek, Staffordshire, wants to head home but said a "shameful and shambolic" Home Office was holding them up.

The government said it had made changes to speed up the visa process.

Staffordshire Moorlands MP, Karen Bradley, said she had been "badgering" the government department over the case.

Mr Richardson moved to Ukraine three years ago after marrying a national, Alina, with whom he travelled by bus to Moldova, along with her daughter and grandson, arriving on 3 March.

They applied for UK visas in the capital Chisinau, with Mr Richardson's step-family receiving theirs digitally.

But he said his wife had been told that as her application on 5 March was under a previous system, she had to collect it from an office and they did not know when.

The waiting has left Mr Richardson unable to sleep and he said the experience had been "absolutely awful".

He told BBC Radio Stoke: "To the powers that be, we are names on a piece of paper but we are human beings, we are frightened, we do not know what is going to happen."

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Mrs Bradley said she and her team had been pushing the Home Office to speed up the process.

"I will do everything I can to cut through the bureaucracy and technical problems and will not rest until they are back in the Moorlands," she said.

Mr Richardson said: "I cannot tell you how happy I will be to step back on English soil."

A spokesperson for the government said changes made to make the process quicker included valid passport holders no longer needing to go to in-person appointments.

Capacity at visa application centres across Europe has also been expanded, they added.