Ukrainian refugees with no ties to Jersey won't be allowed in

Jersey will not allow Ukrainian nationals without family ties to stay in the island, the Chief Minister has confirmed.

Senator John le Fondré says the government will not be part of the UK's 'Homes for Ukraine' sponsorship programme, which sees refugees who have no family ties with people in the island to come and stay.

He says instead, the focus will be on providing support to those who are coming to the island through the Family Visa Scheme.

"At this stage we are taking part in the scheme which is those who've got any formal connection with the island - people working here, people who've got family members out there. That's the main priority right now.

"We want to focus on the ones we know are coming, make sure we've got the right support in place for them and then in parallel we've got further work going on to see what else we can do. As soon as we go away from the direct connection point, we run into all sorts of legal complications which is what we've got to try and resolve."

12 people have come to the island so far under the Family Visa Scheme, with around 15 enquiries still outstanding.

Senator Le Fondré says the crisis in Ukraine is a 'long term problem' which is likely to be around for months to come.

People arriving under the Family Visa Scheme will be provided with a 'basic financial support package' and automatically be registered for employment purposes.