UK’s Patel faces legal action over refugee visa delays
Legal action is being prepared over delays in the UK’s visa system for Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia.
The process has been criticised amid cases of families being unable to travel to Britain because not all of them have received travel letters or visas.
Lawyers are preparing a class action on behalf of hundreds of Ukrainians who applied to travel to the UK weeks ago, but whose cases have been stuck in a backlog, said an advocacy group involved in the proceedings.
Vigil for Visas said it has instructed lawyers to begin legal proceedings against the Home Office, which is headed by Home Secretary Priti Patel. It held a vigil outside government offices in London to highlight “the incoherent, confused and chaotic Ukrainian visa backlog”.
Another participant in the legal action, Taking Action Over the Homes for Ukraine Visa Delays, said it had received evidence of up to 1,000 “missing visas” from the first week of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
The campaign group said it sent the information to the Home Office, but has not received a response.
Legal action is also being prepared on behalf of lone children who have been unable to gain access to UK foster placements because of visa delays.
Amanda Jones, the immigration and public law barrister preparing the class action, previously launched a similar legal challenge on behalf of a member of the Marlow Ukraine Collective – a support group for people in Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, south-east England wishing to help Ukrainian refugees. In that instance, visas were issued within nine hours, Vigil for Visas said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that the UK could have reacted faster in helping Ukrainian refugees.
“Could we have done it faster? Yes, perhaps we could,” Mr Johnson said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday.
But he said “large numbers” are now coming to Britain.
“We have done a huge amount to help Ukrainian women and children in the area, but we’re now seeing large numbers come to the UK,” Mr Johnson said.
According to UK government figures, 86,100 visas had been issued by April 27 under the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine initiative. However, as of April 25, only 27,100 Ukrainians had arrived in Britain, UK government figures showed.
Mr Johnson said Britain was not offering visa-free travel to Ukrainians because “it’s important to protect the system from those who might want to abuse it”.
Kirsty McNeill, an executive director at Save the Children, said: “Part of [the government’s] argument for the bureaucracy and the slowness is that it is keeping people safe.
“But actually, it’s a lack of pace that is endangering children more than anything.”
“In response to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s barbaric invasion, we launched one of the fastest and biggest visa schemes in UK history,” a British government official said.
“We are now processing visas as quickly as they come in.”