Family of Ukrainian refugees still waiting for UK entry after four weeks on Polish border
Frustrations are growing as relatively few Ukrainian refugees arrive in the UK, as Correspondent Rupert Evelyn reports
It’s been exactly four weeks since ITV News interviewed a Ukrainian family on the Polish border and they are seemingly no closer to finding out when they will make it to Britain.
Tonya, Viktoria and the children’s story is by no means unique and points towards a British refugee system that is, despite improvements, still grindingly slow.
At the Hardwidge family home in Salford, they are ready to welcome the family they’ve been paired with, but just as the Ukrainians are living in an information vacuum, so are they.
The local authority has visited the home and agreed it is suitable. A criminal record check still needs to be done, but when the visa will finally be granted is a mystery. Jo Hardwidge who is waiting for the family to move in with her said that "it's embarrassing that they're seeing fellow Ukrainians going into different countries at a much quicker pace and yet a month after applying [they’re] still waiting. I feel ashamed".
Greg Thompson is working on the Polish border with Ukraine. His organisation Love Bristol have been helping refugees trying to get to the UK.
It’s a process he describes as “torturous”. Only 20% of the 200 refugees they are helping have made it to the UK so far.
Mr Thompson said: “It's just a very, very emotionally charged process with lots of locations, lots of complexities, lots of mistakes from the Home Office in terms of the way the visas are processed.”
In comparison, refugees in Ireland are already attending English classes at the further education college in Ennis. We first met Nataliia and her family inside Ukraine as they fled at the beginning of March. In contrast to the cumbersome form-filling process of Britain, Ireland has swiftly welcomed refugees by waiving visas.
Nataliia and her children have a room in a hotel. Her youngest goes to pre-school in town. Her two older daughters still do online lessons with their school back in Ukraine.
Her daughter, Ania, sums up their experience: “We are so thankful and grateful for government officials, for hotel staff, for volunteers. They are amazing.”
While the Irish process has been swift, Britain’s approach has been slower. Driven by paperwork, it has improved with time but is still seen as laborious.
In a statement, the Home Office said: “Thanks to the generosity of the public who have offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war and through the Ukraine Family Scheme, more than 71,800 visas have been granted with 21,600 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.
“The Home Office are now processing thousands of visas a day – this shows the changes made to streamline the service are working and we’ll continue to build on this success so we can speed up the process even further.”