More than 100,000 people have arrived in the UK under visa programmes designed to help Ukrainian refugees, according to government figures published on Thursday.
The government thanked the British public for their generosity and goodwill. It also said it will start processing on Thursday visa applications from unaccompanied children, as long as they have parental consent.
Under the UK’s Ukraine Family Scheme, which opened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, immediate or extended Ukrainian family members of UK nationals and residents can apply to come and stay in the UK for three years.
A separate Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, also known as Homes for Ukraine, allows willing applicants to sponsor Ukrainians and provide them with a home, also for three years.
Meanwhile, those who were already in the UK could apply to extend their visas under the Ukraine Extension Scheme.
According to official figures, 104,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK since the war started—31,300 under the family scheme and 72,700 through the sponsorship scheme.
As of Tuesday, around 166,200 of 198,200 visa applications had been approved.
These include 55,000 applications under the family scheme, of which 47,200 visas had been granted, and 143,200 applications under the sponsorship scheme, of which 119,000 visas had been granted.
Around 1,000 under-18s have applied for visas without their parents or legal guardian under the sponsorship scheme despite the fact they were not eligible, but the UK government said it will start processing these applications and accepting new ones from unaccompanied children.
Such applicants will have to provide proof of consent by their parent or legal guardian that is notarised or certified by the Ukrainian authorities, commit to sponsorship for three years or until the child turns 18, and their sponsorship arrangement needs to be approved by their sponsor’s local authority.
6 Million Ukrainians Displaced: UN Figures
According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since the war started in Ukraine, more than six million (6,162,309) Ukrainian refugees were recorded across 44 European countries by Tuesday.Around 30 percent (1.8 million) of the displaced moved to Russia, around 6o percent (3.7 million) went to other countries under temporary protection or similar national protection schemes, and 10 percent went to other countries but were not registered for a protection scheme.
About 1.2 million of the refugees went to neighbouring Poland, almost 1 million went to Germany, 400,559 moved to the Czech Republic, 154,710 to Italy, 145,000 to Turkey, and 130,160 went to Spain.
