After weeks of internal and external criticism over the handling of the refugee crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the UK has adopted new measures to respond to the civilian flight that already involves more than 3.1 million people.
After announcing a program restricted to Ukrainians who have family members residing in the country, the government this week launched “Houses for Ukraine,” a state-sponsored foster care scheme.
The actions, however, have aroused warnings from organizations specializing in immigration, which pointed to limited scope, bureaucratic aspects incompatible with the urgency of the situation and the possibility of putting immigrants themselves at risk.
One of the most criticized points is the requirement for a special visa, in contrast to the open-door policy of the European Union. The bloc, from which the United Kingdom withdrew two years ago, adopted an unprecedented mechanism that, among other measures, allows entry into its territory even for Ukrainian refugees who do not have a visa or passport.
The first response from the British government after the Russian invasion was given on March 4, with the creation of a special visa, exclusively for Ukrainians who have family members in the United Kingdom. Initially, the process of obtaining the document involved, as for a traditional visa, scheduling an in-person stage for the collection of fingerprints and facial recognition.
On the same day, the Immigration Lawyers Association (Ilpa) spoke out against the procedure, justifying that the government visa offices were closed in Kiev, which would force refugees to move to other cities.
“Our main recommendation is to remove the visa requirement. It is the most effective step the government can and should take to ensure the evacuation and accommodation of those fleeing the invasion of Ukraine,” it said.
As a result, visa posts in neighboring countries such as Poland have seen lines of people waiting in the snow. In Calais, France, from where ferries depart to Dover, England, around 600 Ukrainians were, in the first ten days of March, denied entry by British agents operating at the border, according to The Guardian. The French interior minister described the scenario as “a lack of humanity” on the part of the British government.
In addition to the difficulty of getting an appointment, another bottleneck was the need to collect biometrics. Faced with the scenes of refugees being barred and in response to internal criticism, the government updated the rules and eliminated the requirement for the face-to-face stage.
Since last Tuesday (15), refugees with a valid Ukrainian passport can start and finish the visa application online and, in case of approval, can cross the border with the letter sent by the immigration department. The collection of biometrics started to be carried out after entering the United Kingdom.
For Amnesty International, the change was insufficient. “The process is still fraught with bureaucracy, with desperate and exhausted people being forced to provide birth certificates, proof of relationship and residency, all translated into English,” said Sacha Deshmukh, head of the organization’s English section, which also advocates for total abolition of visa application to Ukrainians.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the British government has been reluctant to give up the visa, citing security reasons, such as the possibility of Russians or extremists infiltrating the borders.
“Security and biometrics checks are a key part of our visa approval process. This is vital to keep British citizens safe and to ensure we are helping those who really need it, particularly as Russian troops are now infiltrating Ukraine “, declared, at the end of February, the British Home Secretary, Priti Patel.
Amid criticism, including from members of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week endorsed the need for controlled borders for refugees. “We are a very generous country. What we want is to be able to check. We cannot have a system where people can enter the UK without any controls.”
In addition to Boris, the two ministers leading Ukraine’s migration crisis have been supporters of Brexit. Both Patel and Michael Gove (Housing) actively participated in the campaign that preceded the 2016 referendum. One of the mottos of the movement in favor of leaving the EU was the slogan “take back control”, in reference to borders, laws and financial resources.
Until this Thursday (17), according to the British government, around 45,800 requests for family visas had been opened by Ukrainian refugees, of which 6,100 were approved. The scope of the family program is limited, as the Ukrainian community in the country is estimated to be 35,000 people.
Of the 3 million refugees from Ukraine, the vast majority have crossed borders into European Union countries, and Poland alone has received 1.9 million people. Often, refugees continue to move, meeting family and friends in other countries. Among the four largest economies on the European continent, Germany is the one that received the most refugees from the conflict (175 thousand). Next comes Italy (44,000), France (13,500) and the United Kingdom (5,500).
From the need to offer a more comprehensive response, “Houses for Ukraine” was born. Under the program, individuals, businesses and charities can host Ukrainian refugees for at least six months in exchange for £350 a month.
The new measure still eliminates the requirement for family ties and, even if you don’t know any Ukrainians in need of shelter, a Brit can register their home in the program. To participate, refugees must, on application, indicate the name of a host and apply for a special visa – charities work to connect the parties.
As of Wednesday, the program had already received more than 120,000 membership applications from prospective hosts. This has sparked a wake-up call from experts such as the organization Refugees at Home, which is dedicated to connecting refugee families or families seeking asylum with people who have “an empty room” in the UK.
Despite celebrating the creation of the program, the entity listed a series of points that need to be observed, such as the need to inspect the spaces offered by hosts, prior interview of host families and a replacement plan for unsuccessful reception cases.
Daniel Sohege, communications director for Love146, an organization that fights child exploitation, raised concerns that hasty decisions could result in risky situations for Ukrainian women and children, the majority profile of refugees. “The program puts vulnerable people at risk of being exploited and trafficked.”
Both refugees who receive the visa through the family link and through the sponsorship system can stay in the country for up to three years, with the right to work and have access to health and education.
The deadline is the same adopted by the European Union, through the Temporary Protection Directive, unanimously approved on March 3. The mechanism, created in 2001 in the context of the conflicts over the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, had never been activated. With the objective of streamlining and standardizing the response of the 27 member countries of the bloc, the set of actions extends basic rights of residents to refugees and simplifies border controls.
