300 open doors to war refugees
ALMOST 300 households in Kirklees and Calderdale have opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees via the Government’s sponsorship route.
The latest Home Office figures show that, as of May 3, 211 visas have been issued in Kirklees and 83 in Calderdale.
Chichester in Sussex had the most per head, at 272 per 100,000, followed by South Cambridgeshire (270 per 100,000) and South Oxfordshire (262 per 100,000).
Many of the areas taking the most refugees per capita are affluent, with eight of the top 10 in the South East or London.
This may suggest that people in those places are, on average, more able to help in terms of space and resources.
In Yorkshire, Ryedale had the next highest number relative to its local population at 104 per 100,000, followed by Hambleton (103 per 100,000).
Overall, 2,302 visas had been given to Ukrainians to stay with hosts across the area by May 3.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme was launched on March 18 to allow Ukrainian nationals to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor who can provide accommodation.
It is one of two programmes run by the Government, with the separate Ukraine Family Scheme allowing Ukrainians to join relatives already in the UK.
The family scheme was launched on March 4 but home sponsorship quickly overtook it in terms of the number of visas provided.
The latest national figures show that around 59,100 (62%) of the 95,500 visas issued through both routes by May 5 were via Homes for Ukraine.
They also show for the first time that more people have now arrived to stay with a home sponsor (19,500) than to join family members (17,900) as of May 3.
The Homes for Ukraine scheme has faced criticism for delays since it was launched, with some hosts threatening to take legal action against the Government on behalf of the people they are sponsoring.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said he was “deeply concerned” by the many stories the charity was hearing from people facing long waiting times to receive permission to travel. He said: “They urgently need to find safety in the UK and face unnecessary hurdle after hurdle in doing so.
“We are hearing that visas for all members of a family who have applied together are not always processed together, causing significant delays to their ability to travel to the UK.
“We are also hearing that people are having real difficulties with receiving emails at all, or they are receiving emails at different times from others in their family, all of which is causing huge distress and delays.
“Responding to what is clearly a serious humanitarian crisis by offering only visa routes was doomed to fail.
“It amounts to putting paperwork and bureaucracy before people who have no choice but to leave their homes.”
A government spokesperson said: “Thanks to the generosity of the public who have offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war and through our Ukraine Family Scheme, nearly 95,500 visas have been granted with almost 37,400 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.
“We are processing thousands of visas a day – this shows the changes we 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.”