‘I’m trying to get to the UK but there’s no system, it’s not working. People are angry’
Desperate refugees with family in Britain queue for hours in the cold at centres from Poland to Calais... but there are no appointments and even fewer answers
THE temperature in Rzeszów was 3C below freezing and outside Britain’s makeshift visa application centre Ukrainian refugees were becoming as desperate as they were confused.
Locked out in the cold for hours at a time, elderly women, children and mothers huddled together for warmth hoping against hope that they would eventually be seen.
Even for those lucky enough to be allowed inside, the news was bleak: some reported being told they would have to wait until next week for an appointment to apply for a visa to travel to the UK.
Others said there were no appointments until the end of next month – a claim that the Home Office has fiercely denied.
“It’s a shambles,” said an operations manager from London who had flown to Poland to help family members get to the UK. “I just need to take them home, for them to be safe, instead of waiting for the sirens to go off at night and hiding in their basement. It’s shocking. The UK government should be more open and work more quickly.”
Antonina Kolodii, a 79-year-old professor, had already waited two days to be seen and was still waiting. She was told that the next available appointment was on March 14. Her daughter, Marianne Kay, said: “There is no system in place, it’s understaffed, it’s not working. People are very frustrated and angry.”
The Home Office insisted that people were being locked out of the building, not on their orders but at the insistence of its landlord, citing safety reasons. Once inside, however, the confusion continued.
Some who had been let inside reported that visa staff appeared unsure of the rules, with refugees being told to submit their names on paper only to then be told to book an appointment online. Others said Britain’s insistence on taking fingerprints for a biometric database of migrants was slowing the process to a crawl, with too few staff and too few machines to process people quickly.
Ms Kay told the BBC that the situation in Rzeszów had become “desperate” and that if the delays carried on “it does feel like there will be riots”.
According to one report, the centre in Rzeszów is only capable of processing 100 applications per day.
As of yesterday, only around 300 visas had been issued for Ukrainians with relatives in the UK, compared with about 2,000 in Ireland, 30,000 in Germany and half a million in Poland.
Iryna Kelly, who travelled to Poland with her British husband, Sebastian, on Friday to help her 61-year-old mother, Halina Pszennycza, after she fled her home in Kyiv, said: “We had to wait until 8pm on Monday for my mum’s biometric [details to be taken].
“Now we have to wait for an email from the Home Office, which might take up to 72 hours. After that, if Mum has been accepted, we will have to go to Warsaw to get the visa. That is another five hours to travel, wait in another queue for God knows how long, and we have nowhere to stay.”
Mrs Kelly, a massage therapist from Willenhall, in the West Midlands, added: “We have spent nearly £1,000 already. We are really exhausted. It’s hard to find anywhere to stay because everywhere is fully booked. I left my kids in the UK, I cancelled my jobs, but most importantly my Mum is safe and I will be by her side to the end.”
In a makeshift waiting area, about 100 people were being given sandwiches, sweets and drinks, but what they needed was answers.
Anastasia, 18, had fled the centre of Ukraine and was hoping to join her sister in London. She had been waiting at the centre since 6am and by early evening she still had not been seen, despite booking an appointment for 4pm on Monday.
“We need shelter,” she said. “The Government should be less strict in situations like this.”
The Home Office says visas are printed in Warsaw for “security reasons” and insisted the visa application centre in Rzeszów was “adequately staffed”.
A spokesman said appointments were available to book online but the centre would not be accepting walk-in applicants, adding that other visa application centres were operating in Warsaw, Bucharest, Budapest, Paris and Chisinau, in Moldova.
Those in Poland were, at least, in the
‘We have spent nearly £1,000 already. We are really exhausted. It’s hard to find anywhere to stay because everywhere is fully booked’
‘I don’t have anywhere to go ... it’s a catastrophe. I know I can’t stay here in France. I don’t speak the language’
right location, unlike their countrymen turning up in Calais, who discovered they faced a 70-mile trek to Lille before they could even get as far as queueing.
At least 625 Ukrainians have arrived in the Channel port since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hoping to get to Britain to be reunited with relations who live here.
Of those, 306 have been denied entry to the UK, according to the French interior ministry.
While the city of Calais is providing temporary free housing for Ukrainians at a local youth hostel, the hostel’s director said the centre could only continue to host the refugees for a few more weeks.
Yesterday, the hostel’s occupancy was close to maximum capacity – at around 140 people – including dozens of families with young children as well as elderly women.
Volunteers from local charities were seen helping people applying under the Home Office’s Ukraine Family Scheme to fill out their forms, which many described to The Telegraph as time-consuming, confusing and costly.
Maria Onofreychuk, a 23-year-old from a town near the Ukrainian-romanian border who is travelling with her sister, was nearly brought to tears after learning that they did not qualify for the scheme, despite having an uncle who is living in the UK.
“I don’t have anywhere to go … it’s a catastrophe,” Ms Onofreychuk said.
She had travelled to Calais thinking she could apply for the scheme, under which Ukrainians with immediate or extended family members already living in the UK are deemed eligible to enter the UK.
To assist with application questions, the Home Office has set up a temporary information desk for Ukrainians at the ferry terminal in Calais.
Yesterday, three British immigration officers were seen answering questions and handing out flyers with QR codes connecting people to the Ukraine Family Scheme visa application page online.
While those applying for the scheme can register online free of charge, successful applicants must then travel to the nearest visa application centre – either in Paris or Brussels – to provide their biometric data.
Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that a new “pop-up” visa application site for Ukrainian refugees was also being set up in Lille, 70 miles from Calais.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, resisted calls to site in Calais, however, because of concerns that it would create a “pull factor” for refugees to come to the port from which people smugglers operate their small boat crossings for illegal migrants.
When asked about her next moves, Ms Onofreychuk said she wasn’t sure what to do.
“I know I can’t stay here in France
– I don’t know the language, I don’t have any connections here. I have to get to the UK.”