Ukrainian baby 'must be fingerprinted' to come to NI

A Ukrainian refugee family have been told they must travel 600 miles for their baby to get a security scan before they can fly to Northern Ireland, their sponsors have said.

The family of five are in Romania waiting on their visas.

Kilbride Presbyterian Church in Ballyclare, County Antrim is sponsoring six refugee families.

Its minister Reverend Gareth McFadden said he was "embarrassed" by the "impossible" request.

The family of two adults and three children have been told they will have to travel across Romania to the capital to get biometrics for their 10-month-old son.

Rev McFadden said they were "stuck" as it is an "impossibly difficult journey" for them to make.

'We grieve for them'

"They have a 10-month-old child who doesn't have a full international passport. He requires biometrics, and we've got the specific messages requiring him to travel to get those," the minister explained.

"That would require that family taking a 1000km journey to Bucharest, to get fingerprinting done on the 10-month-old so that they could enter into the UK, we are finding that frustrating."

Reverend Gareth McFadden says he is "embarrassed" by the "impossible" request put to the family

He said the sponsor family had asked the government to waive the requirement for the baby to get his fingerprints taken before he arrived.

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"We're not asking for the government rules to be abandoned, but a level of considered humanitarian flexibility.

"We would ensure the biometrics are done upon arrival here in Northern Ireland.

"We're embarrassed, we're sad, we grieve for them."

Fiona Eatock and her husband Martin, both members of the congregation, have been preparing to welcome the family into their home.

'They deserve a place to call home'

They first applied for visas, for all five family members, four weeks ago, but so far only two have been processed.

Fiona Eatock, who is sponsoring the family with her husband Martin, says the family deserve a place to call home

"It's quite frustrating and a prolonged wait. We're just anxious for them, they just want to get to Northern Ireland so they can get settled and get the children into school.

"I think they deserve some safety and security and a place that they can call home."

A government spokesperson said applications could "differ in their complexity" and "robust safeguarding" was needed to protect children.

"We thank faith and community groups for their vital support in bringing people together. In as little as two months we have issued over 107,400 visas, helping Ukrainians displaced from their home country to find safety in the UK.

"All applications from families are normally processed together, but cases differ in complexity and it is vital that robust safeguarding processes are in place to protect children from trafficking and other risks."