Tory MPs vent anger at Priti Patel as refugee visa farce deepens with news that thousands of UK-based Ukrainians are blocked from bringing loved ones to Britain
- Ukrainians working in Britain are barred from bringing their loved ones here
- Priti Patel’s evacuee programme faced a backlash from Tory backbenchers
- Came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed a new minister for refugees
Thousands of Ukrainians working in Britain are barred from bringing loved ones here, it emerged yesterday, amid chaotic scenes at visa centres on the continent.
As Priti Patel’s evacuee programme faced a backlash from Tory backbenchers, it emerged only Ukrainians with permanent UK residency rights can be reunited with relatives fleeing the war.
Those in Britain on work visas are excluded from the scheme, it was confirmed.
It came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed a new minister for refugees, former MP Richard Harrington, to oversee the Government’s response.
The Home Office stressed yesterday that the current refugee programme must have security checks to stop it being abused by Russian agents or criminals.
Immigration minister Kevin Foster told the Commons: ‘Sadly, we are already seeing people presenting at Calais with false documents claiming to be Ukrainian.
Thousands of Ukrainians working in Britain are barred from bringing loved ones here. Pictured: A refugee advice desk in the port of Calais where Ukrainians can speak to UK border representatives
Priti Patel’s evacuee programme faced a backlash from Tory backbenchers
‘With incidents like Salisbury [2018 Novichok attack by Russian military intelligence officers] still in our minds the Government will not take chances.’
He confirmed 500 visas had been granted so far through the family visa scheme launched by Miss Patel on Friday.
But Conservative MPs expressed anger at how refugees are being passed from pillar to post by the Home Office.
Ukrainians were reported to have queued for three hours in temperatures of -3C at a visa application centre in Rzeszow, Poland, yesterday.
In Calais, some were turned away from a Home Office advice centre, with one family told to go to Brussels to complete a visa application.
A 32-year-old Ukrainian PR executive, who lives in the UK on a Tier 2 work visa, said she had been advised her parents will not qualify under the family visa scheme.
‘I’ve been working and paying taxes for more than three years in the UK, but I’ve been told I can’t get my parents into the country,’ she said.
The Home Secretary yesterday faced calls to resign for telling MPs on Monday a visa centre had been set up near Calais. In fact, it is not due to be operational until later today in Lille, around 70 miles away.
Sir Roger Gale, Tory MP for North Thanet, told the Commons: ‘That was untrue and under any normal administration that in itself would be a resignation issue.’
MP Alec Shelbrooke told Mr Foster: ‘We want dates, we want action and the Home Office must react far more quickly than it’s doing, and get to the point of hubs of people, get them processed and get them in. This is a disgrace.’
Former immigration minister Mark Harper said the Government needed to ‘grip the pace of this’.
Andrew Murrison, another ex-minister, asked why Ireland had welcomed more than 2,000 refugees but the UK had ‘come nowhere even close to that’.
People flock to a train station after Russia announced a temporary ceasefire in Kyiv, Ukraine
A British government notice on a welcome desk at the ferry terminal in Calais, France
Julian Sturdy said his York constituents were ready to help, adding: ‘The only barrier to their support seems to be Home Office bureaucracy. Now is not the time for box ticking and red tape.’
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has offered staff to help with the visa programme and 75 HMRC staff are also joining.
The scheme was yesterday extended to cover aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins and in-laws. Ministers are looking to streamline the process. This could include allowing Ukrainians to apply without visiting a centre if they hold biometric passports or previously applied for a UK visa.
‘We will see the number of visas issued ramp up each day as we go forward,’ Mr Foster said. A second route for Ukrainians sponsored by individuals, charity or community groups is still ‘weeks’ from being set up.
Other countries are accepting Ukrainians without a visa – with processing at a later date.
Mr Harrington was minister for refugees in the 2015-16 Syrian crisis. He will be made a life peer to take up his role.
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