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The Home Office has paused issuing UK visas to unaccompanied Ukrainian minors fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland amid safeguarding fears. It’s understood that the UK government has still not made a decision on how to deal with UK visa applications made by children with no parents or guardians.
Under current guidance linked to the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, children under the age of 18 must be applying as part of a family unit in order to qualify for entry into the UK. However, this guidance did not appear on the official government website until the middle of April, some weeks after the Homes for Ukraine scheme opened for applications on 18 March.
Critics say that the system has caused confusion and accused the Home Office of creating a ‘national scandal’ because the department has ‘moved the goalposts’ in terms of eligibility criteria for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Applications stalling
There are widespread reports of visa applications made by UK citizens on behalf of Ukraine minors, stalling. Critics have blasted the government, saying its approach has been ‘beyond cruel’.
UK citizen Julie Elliott, 62, told The National News that she had hoped to welcome 16-year-old Timothy Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian refugee who is severely autistic and non-verbal. Mrs Elliot said that she and her husband Roger, 66, have 14 children together – four of which are biological, while 10 are adopted.
Mrs Elliott has been made Timothy’s legal guardian by his mother, Anna. However, Timothy has not yet been allowed into the UK, leaving Mrs Elliott to consider travelling to Ukraine to care for Timothy, having given up on his UK visa application that she made on 30 March.
Mrs Elliott said: “Why offer with one hand and take it away with the other? It is beyond cruel. It would have been kinder not to offer and then all of these people could have found refuge in other places.”
Unable to cope
In Ukraine, Timothy’s mother Anna said that “he is at a stage where he can no longer cope with the situation,” according to Mrs Elliott.
“One of two things is going to happen to Tim. Either Anna’s going to crack and he’s going to have to go to one of these institutions, which there aren’t any left now because of the war. Or he is going to be dead under a pile of stones and I can’t let that happen to him, I can’t,” Mrs Elliott said.
Meanwhile, consultant obstetrician at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Dr Catherine Hillman, 45, told The National News that she was trying to bring two Ukrainian teenagers to the UK whose parents can’t leave Kyiv because they are both medical professionals.
Having secured bursary places for the two children, Ivan, 14, and Daria, 15, at Cheltenham College, Dr Hillman has still not heard from the Home Office despite having all the paperwork completed and written consent from the children’s parents, plus their UK visa applications submitted on 12 April.
Dr Hillman said: “We applied for their visas what feels like 300 years ago and still have not received anything. We have just had the most appalling difficulty. I mean, it has been smoke and mirrors; we have no idea what the truth of the matter is.”
Safeguarding issues
However, a spokesperson for the UK government said that ‘safeguarding issues’ were the reason why unaccompanied minors had not been approved for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Dr Hillman said: “The government has a moral imperative to address this issue and it’s a national scandal that it has not done so. They are just placing roadblocks all the way along with an inconsistency of message as to how you should approach this problem, and what you should do.”
“Without any clarity, you are left floundering, having promised people that you would be able to help them when they are in the very worst of circumstances. Personally, if that was my child, I would be appalled to be on the receiving end of such a ‘welcome’,” Dr Hillman added.
Government concerns over safeguarding fears come after it was recently revealed that more than 600 Ukrainian refugees are awaiting rehousing after their original Homes for Ukraine hosts were deemed to be ‘unsuitable’.
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