Only 2,700 visas were granted as part of Homes for Ukraine, a reception program for Ukrainians who do not have parents in the United Kingdom, and 25,500 as part of the family reunion.
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Despite the magnitude of the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis, the United Kingdom continues to demand a visa of the Ukrainians who flee the war, unlike the countries of the European Union (EU), which opened their doors. And these sesames are only issued with parsimony, although Boris Johnson says his country has always been “incredibly generous” with those who need protection. Wednesday, March 30, the Home Office acknowledged that only 2,700 visas had been granted as part of Homes for Ukraine, a host program launched in mid-March fanfare for Ukrainians who do not have parents in the United Kingdom.
Only 25,500 visas have also been granted in the context of family reunification, another hospitality mechanism, open a month ago. These very modest figures are to be compared to the 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees hosted by Poland, the 600,000 welcomed by Romania, more than 200,000 registered in Germany. At St. Pancras Station, logical arrival point of Ukrainian families in London, the flow is so tenuous that there is not even a permanent home device. The arrondissement of Camden has just tense a banner in the colors of Ukraine against the Eurostar access terminal, in front of which a handful of volunteers operates during the arrival of trains.
The problem does not come from the offer: More than 150,000 British have manifested themselves on the Home Office website, claiming to be ready to house refugees at home – they must have at least one room of free and Receive 350 pounds sterling per month of government to compensate for hosting costs. But the Homes for Ukraine device has a big difficulty: hosts must find themselves Ukrainian candidates initially. Dozens of NGOs and local authorities have been proposed in recent days to support them and put them in relation.
“It’s absurd, I tell him what?”
But as in the context of family reunification, the Ukrainians must then succeed in filling visa applications: the Home Office claims identity evidence, the forms are long and are not translated into Ukrainian. Contacted in early March, Euan MacDonald, a British journalist installed in kyiv before the war, tried since Warsaw to win visas for his daughter (of British nationality), his companion, Ukrainian, and the mother of it. He explained then that we had to have access to a computer to lead the approach “and speak perfectly English”. It took him a week to get the visas.
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