UK Offers Ukrainians 18-Month Visa Extension

An Ukrainian and Union flag flying on May 6, 2022. PA

Over 200,000 Ukrainians who were offered sanctuary in the UK after Russia’s invasion can apply to stay for another 18 months, the government said on Monday.

The first visas issued under three Ukrainian schemes were set to expire in March 2025. But visa holders can now apply to stay until September 2026, the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said.

Tom Pursglove, minister for legal migration and the border, said the extension “provides certainty and reassurance for Ukrainians in the UK on their future as this war continues.”

One of the programmes was closed “in order to simplify” the system, the government said, but critics claim this will prevent Ukrainians from bringing their disabled family members to the UK.

According to Home Office data published last week, as of Feb. 13, 252,000 visas had been issued under the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, and 200,200 people had arrived with these visas.

Before the war, 23,300 Ukrainians in the UK had been allowed to stay under the Ukraine Extension Scheme.

Under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, also known as Homes for Ukraine, permanent residents in the UK can sponsor Ukrainians and provide them with a home for at least six months. The visas last up to three years.

The Home Office has issued 180,200 visas under the scheme as of Feb. 13, and 143,400 people had arrived.

Ukraine Family Scheme Closed

Under the Ukraine Family Scheme,  immediate or extended Ukrainian family members of UK nationals and residents can apply to come and stay in the UK for three years. There’s no requirement for a sponsor to provide suitable accommodation.

Some 71,900 visas had been issued under the scheme as of Feb. 13, including 8,100 in-country applications, and 56,800 people had arrived with the visa.

Visas issued under all three schemes will be eligible for an 18-month extension, but the Ukraine Family Scheme is no longer open to new applicants.

Applications submitted after 3 p.m. on Monday will no be considered. Those who are eligible to apply “may instead qualify under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme when they find an approved sponsor,” an updated guidance said.

A separate document says the programme was closed party because of a decline in demand. Other reasons the Homes for Ukraine scheme is preferred include its lower risk of homelessness and higher level security checks compared to the Ukraine Family Scheme. The document also said the Home Office was seeing “increased litigation” linked to the family scheme and involving  third country nationals (TCNs)  “who were resident in Ukraine at the time of the invasion but with no Ukrainian family members.”

A “small cohort” of TCNs, who who fled Ukraine during the war but are not Ukrainian nationals, may not be eligible for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the document says.

Jennifer Blair, a barrister of No5 Barristers’ Chambers, told The Guardian the closure of the scheme means “people in the UK with vulnerable and disabled family members may be left with no way to bring them to safety.”

She believers this “will be an increasing issue as men are demobilised and want to join their children in the UK,” as well as banning mixed-nationality families “from reuniting with relatives in the UK.”

Labour said the move “sends the wrong message” about the UK’s “willingness” to stand by Ukraine.

The opposition party’s shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, said, “Restricting family rights at a time when Ukrainian troops are under heavy fire in Donetsk sends the wrong message to the people of Ukraine about our willingness to stand with them.

“Ministers must urgently explain the justification for these measures and how they will ensure vulnerable Ukrainians are not put at risk by these changes.”

The Home Office said it was wrong to suggest the government was restricting the ability of Ukrainians to bring family to the UK.

A spokeswoman said: “Our priority remains continuing to provide safe and secure haven for those fleeing the ongoing conflict, whilst providing certainty and assurance for Ukrainians in the UK on their future as the war continues.

“It is right that we continue to adapt and develop the visa routes to ensure they remain as efficient and sustainable as possible. Ukrainian nationals who would have qualified under the Ukraine Family Scheme will still be able to apply to Homes for Ukraine. Family members who are settled here can also still continue to sponsor a family member to come to the UK under Homes for Ukraine.”

The government said the 18-month visa extension announced on Monday “underlines the government’s strong belief that Ukraine will be safe again, and the hope of the government of Ukraine that their citizens will eventually return to the country, when it is safe to do so.”

Eduard Fesko, charge d’affaires at the Embassy of Ukraine to the UK, welcomed the announcement, hailing it as “a clear signal of the continuous support by the HM Government of Ukrainians, fleeing the war, through the provision of a temporary protection status in the UK until they can return home.”

“We appreciate all the help and assistance that our UK friends so generously provide for the temporarily displaced Ukrainians,” he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.