Page 6 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 102 - May 2022_Neat

Letter from Tanya

First of all I would like to say how much I appreciate the support of the British
people and the British Government for Ukraine during the last few years, in particular since
the war started, and I would also like to express my special thanks to the British Embassy in
Kyiv. In the meantime, there have been issues and I would like to share my story which I
believe would be useful and is intended to help to improve things and make it less stressful.
Different Sponsorship Schemes have been put in place quite quickly for Ukrainian refugees
who have fled the war.

I arrived in the UK on 18 February 2022 to visit friends and could not get back
home because the Russian invasion started on 24 February. As a result of that, my return
flight to Kyiv, scheduled for 6 March, was cancelled. My friend who has a flat in South Croy-
don kindly provided me with temporary accommodation and I have been living there since 2
March.

We obviously welcomed the Government’s “Homes for Ukraine” Scheme in antic-
ipation of being able to register for this scheme and obtain some support. As it happened,
everywhere we’ve looked we could not find any clarity on whether I am eligible for this
scheme under my current visitor’s visa and I’ve been given confusing recommendations from
the UK Visa Department and “Homes for Ukraine” Officials and the website does not seem
to cover my case.
The fact that I am already in the UK (arrived 6 days before the war) with a valid
visitor’s visa and sponsor who is ready to provide accommodation appeared to make me in-
eligible for the “Homes for Ukraine” Sponsorship Scheme which does not make sense.
Anyway, we were told that on 3 May, the new Visa Extension Scheme for Ukraine is going to
be launched. I’ve waited for more than a month for that to be able to apply, which I did.
This Visa is supposed to give me access to work which you obviously need to be able to sur-
vive in the UK. The Home Office gave assurances that there is a non-chargeable visa exten-
sion for Ukrainians who are already in the UK and that application should be pretty straight-
forward and quick. As part of the application (which I’ve completed and registered), I have
to make an appointment to the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services, commercial
partner, UKVCAS, run by Sopra Stenia on behalf of UK Visas and Immigration for Biometric.
It was extremely difficult to find an appointment as Standards Appointments are hidden on
the website and you need to talk to their staff to find out where it is, which I’ve done even-
tually, but it has been time-consuming and stressful.
The Visa Extension Scheme would still not give me any chance of registering un-
der the “Homes for Ukraine” Scheme, despite the fact that I’ve got a sponsor. So, theo-
retically, anyone under this arrangement would have to find a job and pay for accommoda-
tion or be at the mercy of friends.
To avoid any bad feelings, I am hoping that the Government will work with the
Home Office to get this sorted, especially for people, like myself, who happened to fall “in
between” different sponsorship schemes and I hope that I will be able to get my visa extend-
ed to be able to stay in the UK.

I hope this helps,
Best regards,

Tanya