Judge Rinder pleads for urgency as group of 50 Ukrainian orphans awaiting new life in UK are stranded in Poland due to PAPERWORK – while Britons throwing open homes say Boris’s refugee scheme ‘is taking too long’
- Group of 50 Ukrainian orphans awaiting new life in Britain are stranded in Poland due to paperwork delays
- TV star Judge Rinder has spearheaded calls to reform the refugee scheme, saying: ‘This is the midst of a war!’
- Some 10,200 visas have been issued under Ukraine family scheme, and 31,500 applications submitted
- Health Secretary Sajid Javid said 150,000 people had expressed an interest in hosting refugees
- Have YOU got plans to house a Ukrainian family? Email [email protected] or [email protected]
Have YOU got plans to host a Ukrainian family?
Email [email protected] or [email protected]
Celebrity judge Robert Rinder has pleaded for urgency as a group of 50 Ukrainian orphans who are awaiting a new life in Britain after escaping Putin’s bombs are currently stranded in Warsaw due to paperwork delays in Poland.
The children, who are being accompanied by nine adults, were due to fly yesterday from the Polish capital to London Heathrow before going on to Scotland, which will be their temporary home until it is possible to return to Dnipro in Ukraine.
But it has emerged that their journey has been stalled by Polish government delays, with Charity Dnipro Kids founder Stevie Carr revealing: ‘The kids are now at a hotel in Warsaw, they are being looked after. The paperwork is the issue, the flights will be booked once that’s resolved.’
Taking to Twitter, Judge Rinder raged: ‘The final paperwork required from the Polish Ministry of Families did not arrive in time for the flight to leave today. Kids & carers are safe in a hotel until they can be reached. Everyone involved in this mission is working hard to bring them to the UK in the coming days.’
He later said: ‘@pritipatel’s statement confirming permission from the Ukrainian Authorities had been obtained. The Polish ministry in Warsaw has not received a signed document from the Ukrainian ministry confirming this (there’s a war). The result? 52 Orphans left stranded!’.
It comes as big-hearted Britons who are opening up their homes to Ukrainian asylum seekers said the UK’s refugee visa scheme is ‘taking so long’, warning that those fleeing the war-torn European country could die before they are allowed into Britain.
What are the two Ukrainian refugee schemes? How do they work? And why have there been problems?
WHAT ARE THE TWO SCHEMES?
The Ukraine Family Scheme allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.
To apply to the Ukraine Family Scheme you must be applying to join or accompany your UK-based family member; be Ukrainian or the immediate family member of a Ukrainian national who is applying to the scheme; and have been residing in Ukraine on or immediately before January 1, 2022 (including those who have now left Ukraine).
The Homes For Ukraine scheme allows individuals, charities, community groups and businesses in the UK to sponsor Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
HOW DOES HOMES FOR UKRAINE WORK?
Phase One of the scheme opened on Friday, March 18 for visa applications from Ukrainians who have named people willing to sponsor them. The scheme is open to Ukrainians and to their immediate family members.
People or organisations wanting to be sponsors who do not know anyone personally fleeing Ukraine can register their interest in being a sponsor from Monday, March 14. They will then be kept updated as the scheme develops.
If you already have a named contact whom you wish to sponsor you should get in touch with them directly and prepare to fill in a visa application with all of their details and yours.
If you do not currently know anyone whom you wish to sponsor, people are being encouraged to get in touch with charities, faith groups or local community organisations who are starting to make connections between individuals.
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
Sponsors will have to provide accommodation for a minimum of six months.
The Government will provide a monthly payment of £350 to sponsors per family they look after. The payments are tax-free and will not affect benefit entitlement or council tax status.
Ukrainians arriving in the UK will also have access to the full range of public services, doctors and schools for up to three years. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that Covid vaccines will be offered to Ukrainian refugees entering Britain, telling ITV’s Robert Peston: ‘We will make sure that they are offered upon arrival or soon after a Covid vaccine.
‘The vaccine rate in Ukraine is, I understand, around one third of the population so a lot less than ours, but also any other kind of medical screening. They will have access to their local GPs, just like you and I.’
Sponsors will need to undergo criminal record vetting before accepting refugees.
Anyone who has lived in the UK legally for at least six months can apply to take in a refugee. The hosts do not have to be British citizens.
WHAT PROBLEMS ARE THERE? AND WHY?
British sponsors have complained of a range of problems – from online application forms that crash, difficulty in getting clear guidance from helpline staff and some advice hotlines charging premium rates of 69p a minute, to delays in visa processing times and extended, expensive stays in hotels in unfamiliar countries.
The Home Office was heavily criticised for a ‘chaotic’ response to the humanitarian disaster. Though Western intelligence had warned for weeks of the possibility of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Whitehall appeared surprised by the attack and had no refugee scheme ready to launch.
After Britain initially only accepted visa applications from those with immediate relatives in the UK, the Government was forced to make several U-turns and last-minute announcements to allow more Ukrainians in – including promises to pay Britons £350 a month to host refugees.
Home Office officials have insisted that the delays were caused by security considerations. Downing Street previously announced the Government was concerned that Russian agents could try to enter Britain by claiming to be Ukrainian refugees.
Former Tory minister Mark Harper told the House of Commons last week: ‘We have got to start working at the pace that these events require.’
Another former minister claimed: ‘They’re slow, they’re risk averse, there is no obvious ministerial direction happening. If ministers are clearly saying security remains a priority, that any scheme has to be “all boxes ticked” before it can be started, then you’re getting this wholly unacceptable delay.’
The Home Office was heavily criticised for a ‘chaotic’ response to the humanitarian disaster. Though Western intelligence had warned for weeks of the possibility of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Whitehall appeared surprised by the attack and had no refugee scheme ready to launch.
After Britain initially only accepted visa applications from those with immediate relatives in the UK, the Government was forced to make several U-turns and last-minute announcements to allow more Ukrainians in – including promises to pay Britons £350 a month to host refugees.
Home Office officials have insisted that the delays were caused by security considerations. Downing Street previously announced the Government was concerned that Russian agents could try to enter Britain by claiming to be Ukrainian refugees.
There are two UK schemes for Ukrainian refugees: the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, for which anybody with space to house a refugee can apply; and the Ukraine family scheme, for those who already have relatives in the UK.
Some 10,200 visas had been issued under the Ukraine family scheme as of 4pm on Sunday, and a total of 31,500 applications had been submitted, according to provisional data published on the Home Office’s website.
Data for the Homes for Ukraine scheme has not yet been released, but Health Secretary Sajid Javid said 150,000 people had expressed an interest in hosting refugees through the programme.
British couple Chris Tattersall, 63, and his wife Anne, 62, said they have been communicating with a family stuck in Poland for two weeks but no progress has been made in getting them to the UK.
The couple, from Torrington, Devon, registered to take part in the Homes for Ukraine scheme and posted an online advert offering two spare bedrooms vacated by their sons.
Two weeks ago, they were connected with Alana, a mother stuck in Poland after fleeing Ukraine with her nine-year-old child, grandparents and a pet cat.
‘Every hour somebody is sat there with a child and with a bag is like a week, a day is like a year and almost a month is like a lifetime,’ Mr Tattersall said. ‘Everything is taking so long when you’ve got people with nothing.
‘I said that we will pick them up from wherever. If we’ve got to drive to Poland, then we will drive to Poland, it doesn’t matter.
‘We can offer shelter and love… I’m sure the majority of people like myself, they’ll do anything just to make it work.’
Mrs Tattersall, who is originally from Ireland and has lived in Devon for 37 years, said there was ‘no help at all’ for Alana and her family when they were trying to cross the Ukrainian-Polish border.
‘I mean, it’s a war, why can’t they just let them in? And then we can process them the same way in which Ireland did,’ she said. ‘Every other country has pulled out all the stops, but not the UK.’
UK-born volunteers who have travelled to Europe to assist in the refugee crisis have also criticised the Government for leaving women at risk of trafficking because of delays with their visa applications.
Ruth McMenamin, who normally works in marketing but is currently volunteering at Poland’s Warsaw train station, said thousands of Ukrainian refugees are arriving every day for basic health care, toiletries and hot food.
The 34-year-old, from Bristol, has been volunteering at the station for the past week after arriving in Poland on March 11.
She said: ‘When I rang the Home Office the other day, they said… once they’ve received a match, it would take one week to get the piece of paper that they need to then book a flight.
‘That causes quite a lot of problems because they’ve got someone that needs to stay for a week in temporary accommodation and they’ve just travelled for three, four days. It’s usually a woman by themselves with a couple of young kids and they’re just exhausted.
‘Then there’s obviously all the other dangers around that; there are safeguarding issues. There’s been reports of trafficking, sexual assaults. Making someone wait a week after they’ve escaped a war-torn country isn’t good enough.’
Ms McMenamin said the process needs to be more ‘dignified’ and the UK Government needs to ‘throw more resources at this’ to process people quicker or allow them into the country, give them a safe place to stay and then allocate them to a household post-arrival.
A Department of Housing, Levelling Up and Community spokesman said: ‘We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing horrific persecution in Ukraine can find safety in the UK, and our Homes for Ukraine scheme now allows those without family connections to come to the UK.
‘We have streamlined the visa application process so valid passport holders no longer have to attend in-person appointments before arriving, allowing us to welcome people faster while still maintaining vital security checks, which ensure those who could pose a threat to our safety are prevented from getting here.’
A Home Office spokesman added: ‘The Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of human trafficking.
‘We will continue to clamp down on those who continue to exploit vulnerable people, while providing tailored support for victims to help their recovery.
‘We are keeping the situation in Ukraine under review and remain in close contact with the Ukrainian government.’
People rest at the hall of Hrubieszowski Sports and Recreation Centre which has been transformed into an accommodation facility for refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion Ukraine, in Hrubieszow, Poland, March 21, 2022
Ukrainian refugees with children board transport at a square next to a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, March 22, 2022
A group of 50 orphans fleeing the Ukraine war are in limbo waiting to hear if they can enter the UK
Ukrainian orphans are seen during a stopover in Warsaw as they are en route to the UK, in Warsaw, Poland, March 21, 2022
A Ukrainian evacuee hugs a child in the train station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, March 22, 2022
Judge Rinder, 43, pictured before flying with Virgin Airways to Warsaw
The children are making a more than 2,000-mile journey come from an orphanage in Dnipro, Ukraine to the UK
Taking to Twitter, Judge Rinder raged: ‘The final paperwork required from the Polish Ministry of Families did not arrive in time for the flight to leave today. Kids & carers are safe in a hotel until they can be reached. Everyone involved in this mission is working hard to bring them to the UK in the coming days.’ He later said: ‘@pritipatel’s statement confirming permission from the Ukrainian Authorities had been obtained. The Polish ministry in Warsaw has not received a signed document from the Ukrainian ministry confirming this (there’s a war). The result? 52 Orphans left stranded!’
Readers of Mail Newspapers and MailOnline have always shown immense generosity at times of crisis.
Calling upon that human spirit, we are supporting a huge push to raise money for refugees from Ukraine.
For, surely, no one can fail to be moved by the heartbreaking images and stories of families – mostly women, children, the infirm and elderly – fleeing from the bombs and guns.
As this tally of misery increases over the coming days and months, these innocent victims of this conflict will require accommodation, schools and medical support.
Donations to the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal will be used to help charities and aid organisations providing such essential services.
In the name of charity and compassion, we urge all our readers to give swiftly and generously.
TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE
Donate at www.mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate
To add Gift Aid to a donation – even one already made – complete an online form found here: mymail.co.uk/ukraine
Via bank transfer, please use these details:
Account name: Mail Force Charity
Account number: 48867365
Sort code: 60-00-01
TO MAKE A DONATION VIA TEXT
To donate £10, text HELP to 70115 To donate £20, text AID to 70115 Texts cost either £10 or £20 plus a standard network rate message. 100% of the donation goes to charity.
TO MAKE A DONATION VIA PHONE
Call 0300 12345 77 and follow the instructions to make your donation. A small fee will be deducted by the payment processing platforms when you pay by debit or credit card.
TO MAKE A DONATION VIA CHEQUE
Make your cheque payable to ‘Mail Force’ and post it to: Mail Newspapers Ukraine Appeal, GFM, 42 Phoenix Court, Hawkins Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 8JY
TO MAKE A DONATION FROM THE US
US readers can donate to the appeal via a bank transfer to Associated Newspapers or by sending checks to dailymail.com HQ at 51 Astor Place (9th floor), New York, NY 10003
Labour said the programme’s ‘excessive bureaucracy’ and ‘DIY nature’ are the greatest barriers to its success, and urged the Government to ‘cut unnecessary paperwork and play an active role in matching sponsors to refugees’.
Meanwhile former health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested the scheme be used as a template in future to offer sanctuary to refugees from around the world.
The Suffolk MP, who plans to take in a family in his constituency home, said the UK needed ‘a permanent system that’s ready to go whenever there’s a crisis somewhere in the world’.
Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, claimed the scheme is a ‘smokescreen’ and distraction from what really needs to happen, which she says is the removal of the visa requirement for Ukrainians to come to the UK, as other European countries have done.
She accused the Government of putting charitable organisations in an ‘invidious’ position and foisting the scheme on them without prior consultation, adding that she expects just a ‘trickle’ of refugees to arrive through the scheme because they will have to find people to become sponsors while abroad before they can apply, and then make their own way to the UK.
She said: ‘Are some of the people going to be alive by the time the process has been gone through?
‘They should be letting people in now, but the Government is doing to refugees what they’ve done to the Syrians and to Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, and what they’re doing is to reduce to an absolute minimum the number of refugees making their way to the UK in the midst of the worst refugee crisis since World War Two.’
Positive Action in Housing, which runs Room for Refugees – the UK’s longest running refugee hosting programme which has been in place since 2002 – is receiving around 40 calls and up to 150 emails an hour from Britons who want to offer accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.
Almost 70 Ukrainian refugee families have registered with the charity, including 60 children and several heavily pregnant women currently in Ukraine, France, Poland, Belgium and Germany.
Ms Qureshi questioned how many people who have expressed an interest via the Government’s website will have to withdraw because they later realise they do not have ‘the physical or mental room’.
She said: ‘We do not have half a hosting program in place.
‘All they’ve got is expressions of interest – they have not identified individuals to match them up… this is an illusion of people helping because they’re distracting from the fact that they haven’t lifted visa restrictions.’
Shadow levelling up and housing secretary, Lisa Nandy, welcomed the scheme’s launch but said there remains a ‘worrying lack of engagement with local councils and charities’.
She said: ‘They stand ready to do their job but, unless the Government steps up and provides clear guidance, we risk squandering the amazing generosity of people who have offered to open their homes.
‘Getting Ukrainian families here quickly is vital so they are secure and there is certainty for those welcoming them. The biggest barriers are excessive bureaucracy and the DIY nature of this scheme.
‘The Government needs to cut unnecessary paperwork and play an active role in matching sponsors to refugees.’
Host families have slammed the ‘nightmarish’ bureaucracy that is said to be prolonging the process for women and children who have fled the conflict.
Ukrainian refugees with children board a bus at a square next to a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, March 22, 2022
Ukrainian refugees with children board transport at a square next to a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, March 22, 2022
A general view of the hall of Hrubieszowski Sports and Recreation Centre which has been transformed into an accommodation facility for refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion Ukraine, in Hrubieszow, Poland, March 21, 2022
Ukrainian orphans are seen during a stopover in Warsaw as they are en route to the UK, in Warsaw, Poland, March 21, 2022
HOMES 4u! Billionaire British Phones 4u founder and ex-Olympian wife offer two-bed Coach House on the grounds of their estate to Ukrainian refugees
Mr Caudwell, pictured in the property’s Great Hall, is among high-profile figures offering their homes to Ukrainian refugees
Phones 4u billionaire John Caudwell and former Olympian Modesta Vzesniauskaite confirmed they are among a number of high-profile figures offering their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
Mr Caudwell, 69, and 39-year-old Ms Vzesniauskaite said the situation of those caught up in the conflict was ‘beyond comprehension’ as they kicked off a campaign to encourage other wealthy individuals to help.
Speaking to Hello! Magazine, Ms Vzesniauskaite, who was born in Lithuania, also shared memories of ‘fear and trauma’ from her childhood, and the Soviet Union’s attempts to occupy her country on Bloody Sunday in 1991.
‘I feel heartbroken for the people whose lives have been destroyed,’ said Mr Caudwell, who is offering up his detached two-bedroom Coach House in the grounds of his £10million Staffordshire mansion Broughton Hall.
Volunteers have warned that delays could be putting refugees at risk amid claims of trafficking.
Under the first phase of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Britons can sponsor refugees for a visa and offer them a rent-free room in their house.
Once a host family has been found, refugees must complete visa application forms – providing identity documents and answers to detailed questions in English.
There is then a further wait before the visa is issued, with government information saying the process can take up to six weeks.
Ruth McMenamin, a volunteer in Poland, said that UK-bound refugees were sleeping in train stations and emergency accommodation as they awaited permission to travel.
The marketing head, who works for a travel company in the UK, added: ‘There are dangers in having to wait around for applications to be processed as these women and children have nowhere to live. There are reports of trafficking.
‘The process needs to be sped up. Other countries are allowing people to go straight there.’
Although the first refugees under the scheme are due to arrive this week, host families have said they have ‘absolutely no idea’ how long the process will take.
Lee Havenhand, 33, and his wife Rebecca, 30, are to share their three-bedroom home with a mother and two daughters.
The couple, who live near Doncaster were ‘matched’ with the family through a Facebook site and were inspired to help after having visited Ukraine regularly for holidays.
Engineer Mr Havenhand said he helped the family, from Lviv in western Ukraine, with the visa process by filling in the required forms for them.
But he added: ‘It’s a good job we did because the forms are an absolute nightmare. They took us six hours because of the amount of information and evidence that is required.
‘It asks for children’s birth certificates – which is a problem for many people who have already fled their homes.
‘They also ask for proof of father’s consent, which is not always possible if he has gone off to fight in the war.
‘It’s a shambles. We just have to cross our fingers that it is going to go through soon.’
A 58-year-old woman, who is to share her home in Derbyshire with a Ukrainian woman and two daughters, also said the process was ‘absolutely impossible’.
The married woman, who asked not to be named, said the refugees she had been matched with had travelled from a village near Lviv to Berlin but wanted to move to the UK as the elder daughter spoke English.
However, the ‘traumatised’ family have been sleeping on the floor of a rest centre while they wait for visas.
‘There is no way on God’s given earth that they could have filled those forms in,’ she said.
‘There are huge risks because of the information and detail I had to give as well – certainly enough to steal your identity. To make it worse, nobody knows how long it will take.’
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