Patel accused over ‘chaotic’ UK response to refugees
Desperate families being turned away at Calais after Home Office maintains its ‘nine step’ visa process
PRITI PATEL was accused of presiding over a “chaotic” Ukrainian refugee scheme last night as it emerged that France is being forced to pay for fleeing families to pick up their British visas.
At least 150 of the 400 Ukrainians who have presented themselves to British border authorities in Calais were told they needed to go to Paris or Brussels to complete their visa applications at centres where they could undergo biometric and security checks.
However, French officials, who have criticised the UK’S “restrictive” visa scheme for a “lack of humanity”, disclosed their government was providing free rail travel for the refugees to go to Paris if the UK would not pay. However, while SNCF, the state railway, lets Ukrainian passports holders travel free, some were worried about finding a place to sleep in Paris with no money.
Further signs of a lack of joined-up thinking came as Downing Street seemed to contradict the Home Secretary when it denied the UK plans to open a further humanitarian route, after Ms Patel had said she was examining “legal options” for such a route.
The EU’S top diplomat Joseph Borrell warned that as many as five million could flee into the bloc if Russia’s barbaric invasion continued amid demands from British MPS and lawyers for ministers to relax or streamline visa rules.
Ministers are, however, continuing to resist visa waivers and yesterday voiced concern that Ireland’s open door policy to Ukrainians was a security risk to the UK, amid claims Dublin failed to consult London on its plans in advance.
Ireland joined the Eu-wide scheme that allows people fleeing Ukraine to settle without a visa for three years. The UK has maintained a stricter entry process, requiring all Ukrainian applicants to seek a formal visa and to submit their biometric data for security checks.
The Home Office said last night that nearly 9,000 family visa applications were submitted, with a further 8,000 started. Just 300 have been issued.
Ms Patel had told MPS that the Home Office was “surging” staff to Visa Application Centres (VAC) in Europe and an extra VAC was being set up “en route” to Calais to meet demand, although she did not say where.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The Government’s response looks rather chaotic. There needs to be a simple, safe route which says ‘If you’re Ukrainian, come here and we’ll grant you permission to be in the UK, where you will be welcomed as a refugee’.”
Roger Gale, a Tory MP in Kent, said: “What are we doing to relieve the pressure on those frontline states that have already taken in more than a million people? Time, surely, to cut the red tape and admit any refugees with a valid Ukrainian passport and any accompanying children.”
Ms Patel signalled a potential third way for refugees without family links to enter the UK, beyond the schemes for refugees with immediate or extended family or who can secure sponsorship from community bodies, businesses or individuals.
A source confirmed: “As the crisis is developing it is becoming clear some people have needs that go beyond what sponsorship can offer and [Priti Patel] does not want to see anyone excluded – hence [a third route] being considered.”
However, Boris Johnson distanced himself from the plans, saying there were already two uncapped “very, very generous routes” while a Downing Street spokesman added to confusion by saying the new route was “the sponsorship route that we set out last week”.
Asked if the UK was considering a third route for Ukrainians without links to the UK, Mr Johnson said: “Let me be very clear, what we won’t do is have a system where people can come into the UK without any checks or any controls at all. I don’t think that is the right approach.”
However, lawyers helping refugees warned that red tape was forcing families to go through nine steps to enter the UK. They said families were struggling to provide required supporting documents for visas which all have to be translated into English. They said refugees not only had to work out if they were eligible but then complete forms online, provide proof of their family links, evidence of their Ukraine residence
‘Time, surely, to cut the red tape and admit any refugees with a valid Ukrainian passport and any children with them’
and give biometrics including fingerprints in person at a VAC.
In the Commons, Ms Patel insisted: “It is absolutely right that we’ve already had people in Calais ... it is wrong to say we’re just turning people back – we’re absolutely not, we’re supporting those that have been coming to Calais.”
She warned that people-smuggling gangs were “roaming around Calais” and “human trafficking cases are now manifesting at the border”, adding: “It’s absolutely right that we have the right processes in place to check people and to safeguard people.”
This was why the extra VAC would be placed away from the port “en route” to Calais. It also underpins the concern about Ireland. A0 British Government source told The Daily Telegraph: “Ireland has basically opened the door to everyone in Ukraine, which creates a problem due to the Common Travel Area. We’ve seen before with migrants from Albania that they have come through Dublin, into Belfast and across to the mainland to Liverpool. That’s created a drug cartel route.”
The Whitehall insider added that while there appeared strong public support for Ukrainians at present, “it’s the Home Office that will get the blame if in three or fives years’ time there are problems with those who come. That’s why the security checks have to be done carefully now”.
Anne Rabbitte, Ireland’s minister of state, has said the country is set to take in more than 100,000 Ukrainians.