Ukraine War As of Monday 7th March – UK has Only Granted 50 Ukrainian Refugee Visas

London: Fifty Ukrainians have been granted visas under a scheme for refugees with family links to the UK, the Home Office has announced. It is about 1% of the 5,535 people who have applied since the programme launched 48 hours earlier. Europe minister James Cleverly said he did not know the exact figures but said numbers would increase “very quickly”. The Ukrainian ambassador praised the UK effort but urged for the “maximum” number of people to be admitted.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was “doing everything possible” to speed up efforts to issue the travel permits. The UK has steadily increased its visa offer to refugees from the Ukraine war, extending it to parents, grandparents and siblings as well as “immediate family” and extending the visas to three years. But it has faced criticism that its scheme is less generous than the European Union’s, while France accused the UK of a “lack of humanity”, saying that 150 refugees were turned back at Calais for lacking a visa.