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Hundreds of babies and children have visas 'held up' despite their parents being approved
27 April 2022, 13:44 | Updated: 27 April 2022, 15:36
A Home Office whistle-blower has told LBC hundreds of UK visas for Ukrainian babies and children have been “held up” - despite their parents being approved.
The unnamed whistle-blower said: “I’m seeing about five of these cases a day, so I’m guessing it’s the same for everyone that’s on the shift. It must be over 100 a day.”
“There’s no clear reason, it just seems to be it’s held up. The only conclusion I can come to is, if they hold back one visa out of a group of three, it means they’ve issued two visas but they can be sure that three people don’t travel. It seems it’s a way of issuing visas and ensuring people don’t travel.”
“I had a case the other day with a newborn baby, it had been born in the last couple of weeks. You just think, how many checks do you have to do on a newborn baby?”
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The Home Office dismissed the claims and said it was committed to processing visas as quickly as possible.
The Government has previously stressed the need for security checks on applicants and applicants without valid international passports have been required to attend a Visa Application Centre to provide biometric information.
Hundreds of UK visas for Ukrainian babies and children are being held up
A government spokesperson said: "Thanks to the generosity of the public who have offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war and through the Ukraine Family Scheme, more than 71,800 visas have been granted with 21,600 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.
“The Home Office is now processing thousands of visas a day – this shows the changes made to streamline the service are working and we’ll continue to build on this success so we can speed up the process even further.”
LBC has spoken to dozens of UK based sponsors who have been waiting almost five weeks to bring Ukrainian refugees to safety through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
But the families they are helping will not travel, because their children’s visas haven’t been approved.
The latest Home Office figures show 39,300 visas have been issued through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, but only 6,600 people have arrived in the UK.
LBC has spoken to Vladymir Tymashov, whose sister-in-law is trying to come to the UK through the sponsorship scheme with her two young children.
But she can’t travel, as they’re still waiting for permission for her 7-month-old baby.
Mr Tymashov said: “We are frustrated. We’d like them here to help them get to safety. The lack of transparency is one of the most frustrating things.
“I understand there are a lot of applications and it may take time, but I did everything right in the visa application. Clearly there is a problem.”
Kitty Hamilton, from Haringey in North London, is sponsoring a mother and her 17 and five-year-old children. She told LBC she has experienced the same problem.
She said: “Their mother has received her visa but the children are under consideration - those are the words have been used. I’ve only found out about this because my MP, Catherine West, has been pushing for it, I’ve heard nothing from the Home Office themselves.
“This is just cruel. If I was a mother, I would never dream of leaving my children behind in a war zone.”
Trevor Farnfield, from Marlow, has told LBC visas have been granted for four members of the family of five he and his wife Debbie are sponsoring.
The visa they’re still waiting for is for a 5-year-old boy.
He said “We had to apply for a visa for each of the five family members separately. If there had been one visa application for a family, they wouldn’t have got split up, and I think that’s the fundamental problem.”
The two Ukraine schemes taken together are one of the fastest and biggest visa programmes in UK history.
