‘I’m ashamed’: Brits hit out at refugee scheme delays
KIND-HEARTED Brits hoping to open up their homes to Ukrainian refugees say they are “at their wits’ end” over delays, with some accusing the Government of making its visa scheme “as difficult as possible”.
Neil Adams, 54, offered his house to a family of five who were forced to flee their home in northern Ukraine.
The senior lecturer at London South Bank University helped them apply for visas through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme on March 20 but they still haven’t arrived. Neil, who is rearranging his home inwigan, Manchester, to accommodate the family, said: “It makes me feel ashamed, at least of our Government.
“The British people have stepped up to the plate and are desperate to help.
“But the Government seems to be doing as much as possible to make it as difficult as possible.”
Tim Boniface and his partner Jayne Coppinger said they were “at their wits’ end” after being told there would be further delays in approving a mother and her two children’s visas.
The couple are one of five households in Wysall, a village near Nottingham, sponsoring Ukrainian families under the scheme.would-be hosts began demonstrating outside the Home Office yesterday, calling for an end to the “cynical and deadly” delays.
The need for urgent approvals has been highlighted by images of children from Donetsk Oblast playing in a shelter provided by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian village of Nadyby, which has become a sanctuary for refugees from Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
And volunteers were giving out food to people at a distribution depot of Swiss aid organisation Essen für Alle in Zurich, where hundreds of Ukrainians lined up for supplies. A Government spokesman said: “The changes the Home Office has made to streamline the visa system, including simplifying the forms and boosting staff numbers, are working and we are now processing visas as quickly as they come in, enabling thousands more Ukrainians to come through our uncapped routes.”