Reverend riled by red tape for young refugee
A CHURCH minister has hit out at bureaucracy that means she cannot give a home to a 17-year-old family friend from Ukraine.
Reverend Jenny Kilgour has told of her frustration at failing to secure a visa for Viktoria Koval.
She has hosted the teenager in Cullompton, Devon, on language exchange visits and began the process to offer a safe haven almost as soon as Russia invaded Ukraine.
Rev Kilgour has the written consent of Viktoria’s parents. She and her family have contacted the council, the Ukrainian Embassy, 65 MPS, refugee charities as well as the Refugees Minister, Richard Harrington.
Her visa efforts for Viktoria have reached a dead end after being given different reasons from separate sources.
The law student from Vinnytsia, south west of Kyiv, is unable to attend school and is sheltering in her family’s basement.
The United Reformed Church minister was told at first that the Ukrainian government did not allow “unaccompanied minors” to enter the UK “without the consent of Ukraine”.
Then the Ukrainian Embassy said that with the right permissions it “is sufficient for minors to travel out of Ukraine during martial law”.
But last night the Government told the Sunday Express under the Homes for Ukraine scheme under-18s are barred from entering the UK unless they are “reuniting with a parent or legal guardian in the UK”.
It means Viktoria will have to wait until next January, when she turns 18, before she can apply for a visa.
Rev Kilgour, a former Army nurse, said: “This has been all-consuming for the last eight weeks. All we want is to comply with her parents’ wish and offer Viktoria a safe place with a loving family that she knows well.
“We have an established relationship with her and yet we have faced endless blocks.
“It feels as though every time we make some progress something else comes up.”
She says her granddaughters, Sophia 15, and Elisia, 12, have been badly affected. “Sophia was distressed enough to write to 65 MPS,” she said. “Elisia is not sleeping properly.”
She added: “I understand the need for safeguarding but I thought the consent of the parents and my consent would be sufficient.viktoria is like a granddaughter to me and a sister to my grandchildren.
“How awful to be hiding in a basement because the sirens are going and really not knowing what will happen next. It’s all I think about.when I wake up at two in the morning I check my phone for messages about it.
“It makes me shudder to think of all the other youngsters in Ukraine waiting to be granted visas that will ensure their safety.
“We still don’t know if we will ever be able to getviktoria to safety.”