I’ve been trying to secure UK visas for Ukrainian refugees – the red tape is shameful

Bombs are raining down on Ukraine, and the Home Office can’t even manage to process a few forms

The number of issued visas should be a wake-up call for the government, proving that the system is both literally and figuratively broken (AFP via Getty Images)

The news that just 300 visas (out of 17,700 applications started) have been issued by the UK to Ukrainians fleeing war surprised me – but not for the same reason it may have surprised you.

Such a paltry number of visas being issued to people we have pledged to help has, rightfully, been met with outrage and disgust. Some people also seem shocked by the low number of approvals – and I can only assume they are people who have never attempted to navigate the UK visa system.

A few weeks ago, I was one of those people. But for the last 10 days, I have been trying to secure visas for the relatives of a Ukrainian woman in the UK. Her family fled Ukraine as war broke out, joining hundreds of thousands of people who made for the border, making the heartbreaking decision to leave behind male relatives blocked from leaving the country.

This group of five women and children – aged four and 10 – managed to escape Ukraine and travelled by land as far as Italy, where they are holed up in emergency accommodation waiting for their visas to be processed.

They fled with what they could carry, and have spent the last week sleeping in a monastery-come-shelter, thanks to the generosity of people they have encountered. Others, sadly, have been less generous. One paid accommodation refused to take them because they were fleeing Ukraine, musing that “they might never leave”. Another mysteriously became fully booked when we explained the family’s situation.

But the family does not need to stay in Italy. They don’t speak the language, or have any connections, funds or help. What they do have is a loving family here in the UK, who are desperate to hug them, protect them, and house them – people who can give them real refuge from the horror of losing their homes and the only life they have ever known.

Thanks to the UK’s extension of the family migration visa, they are entitled to be here. These are documents Priti Patel promised would see them arriving safely on UK soil, among a select few allowed to enter the country to stay with their relatives. And yet, even this pitiful allowance the UK government has deigned to offer Ukrainians isn’t working as it should.

From a shambolic roll-out of new rules, which saw waits of more than 45 minutes on the designated "helpline" only to speak to people who freely admitted they had "no idea" what was happening, to an application website that offered help in many different languages – but not Ukrainian; the entire process was an exercise in futility.

Having to explain to the family that their relatives were stuck, as we made phone call after phone call while they repeated “the UK said they would help us", was devastating. And for what reason? Our system is bureaucratic? We’ve announced this extension too early and the computer systems haven’t caught up?

The family abroad fared little better. Despite having the help of Ukrainian family in the UK, three English-speakers calling various visa centres and the Home Office, and a family friend who works in immigration law, they have made scant progress.

Not only were they turned away from one visa centre because "there are no appointments in March" and asked to leave another because they needed to first secure appointments online (of which there are none), they also received conflicting information on the immigration helpline. The bureaucracy they have faced over the past week has been astounding.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

One occasion saw the children and their mother weeping outside the doors of a visa office, as heartless staff inside asked them to leave and refused to help them because "the forms weren’t filled out properly". These are people fleeing aerial bombardment – you’d think someone inside the centre would have read the news and could have perhaps offered them some assistance.

One member of the family group has already decided to return to Ukraine, unable to reconcile leaving her adult son behind in a warzone. Disturbingly, the others are now debating whether to turn back, having lost faith that the UK government’s offer of help is real, and unwilling to spend months on end forcing their children to sleep on floors.

That this group, after gathering their belongings and packing up their lives, is considering re-entering the country they tried so hard to flee from should make the UK government hang their heads in shame. How can they consider their visa offering fair or generous when people would rather risk their lives than trust the process?

Absolute kudos to the handful of people who managed to wade through the tide of bureaucracy to get their visas approved and issued. I can’t believe that many people managed to navigate the system, and wonder how many thousands of others are stuck in cyber limbo, endlessly clicking refresh on a visa appointment page that simply hasn’t been updated as they face another night without a home.

The number of issued visas should be a wake-up call for the government, proving that the system is both literally and figuratively broken, and they must act now to change it. Boris Johnson said "the UK will be as generous as we possibly can be", but that simply isn’t true. We are not offering nearly enough, and what we are offering isn’t working properly.

Bombs are raining down on Ukraine, and we can’t even manage to process a few forms.