The United Kingdom may finally be set to welcome hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees over the next few weeks. Health secretary Said Javid said that the country has already issued 9,500 visas to Ukrainians that have family ties and connections to the U.K.
It comes as refugee charities have warned the government that the mass bureaucracy involved in securing visas has forced people to wait in dangerous situations.
An estimated 150,000 people within Britain have expressed interest in personally hosting refugees through a program called Homes for Ukraine. Refugee hosting charities have continued to express concern over the number of obstacles posed by the visa application process.
Executive director of Refugees at Home, Lauren Scott, said that the organization has heard the visa applications are extremely long and difficult to complete, especially considering that people are doing the process while fleeing their homes. Access to the internet and to the required paperwork is not easy, combined with people being completely exhausted, on the run, and likely without technology.
The UK has been under intense criticism for not doing more to help Ukrainian refugees. The Home Office has been accused of having a terrible response to the situation. More than three million Ukrainians have fled the country. In the EU, countries are allowing Ukrainian refugees in for up to three years without obtaining a visa.
The UK has two visa schemes now, following criticism that it has let in far too few refugees and made the process too difficult. One scheme, the Family Visa Scheme, is for those with immediate or extended family members in the UK. The second scheme, Homes for Ukraine, let people in the UK host Ukrainian refugees.
There have been reports of refugees making it all the way to Calais, the French crossing for the UK, before being turned away by UK Border Force officials for lacking paperwork.
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