Wigan man offering refuge to Ukrainians blasts Government visa scheme

A Wigan host offering his home to a family of five Ukrainians has accused the Government of making its visa scheme “as difficult as possible” for those who are “desperate to help”.
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Neil Adams, 54, has offered his house to a husband, wife and their children after they were forced to flee Berdychiv, in northern Ukraine.

He applied for their visas through the Homes for Ukraine scheme on March 20 but has been waiting over a month for them to be approved.

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“I got in touch with the family via Facebook and we submitted all the paperwork … but the process has just been so painfully slow,” Mr Adams said.

Neil Adams, 54, who is offering his home to a family of five Ukrainians and has accused the Government of making its visa scheme "as difficult as possible" for those who are "desperate to help"Neil Adams, 54, who is offering his home to a family of five Ukrainians and has accused the Government of making its visa scheme "as difficult as possible" for those who are "desperate to help"
Neil Adams, 54, who is offering his home to a family of five Ukrainians and has accused the Government of making its visa scheme "as difficult as possible" for those who are "desperate to help"
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“It is all a massive frustration. Maybe this is just the cynic in me but it seems like the process is deliberately long and complex to put people off.

“It makes me feel ashamed, at least of our government.

“I mean the British people have stepped up to the plate and are desperate to help, but the government seem to be doing as much as possible to make it as difficult as possible to help.”

Mr Adams, a senior lecturer at London South Bank University, is rearranging his home to accommodate the family in three bedrooms.

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He said the couple have four children, aged four and 18, but their eldest daughter has decided to stay in the war-torn country after her husband was told to stay and fight.

“They are a slightly complex family in that Mum and Dad are from Uzbekistan, although they had permanent residence in Ukraine, and all of the kids, three daughters and a four-year-old son, were born in Ukraine,” Mr Adams said.

“The dad did not have to stay and fight because he is not a Ukrainian national.

“I have decluttered the upstairs of my home and offered them two double rooms and a single room to stay in, and I am going to move downstairs.

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“I’ve got a good mate in Belgium and he’s sort of accommodating them while we try to sort this nightmare process out.”

A Government spokesperson said:

“Thanks to the generosity of the public who have offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war and through our Ukraine Family Scheme, more than 71,800 visas have been granted with 21,600 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.

“We are processing thousands of visas a day – this shows the changes we 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.”

Mr Adams is not alone.

Tim Boniface and partner Jayne Coppinger are one of five households in Wysall, near Nottingham, sponsoring Ukrainian families under the scheme.

After weeks of waiting they are now experiencing further delays because family members’ visas are coming through at different times, despite applying simultaneously.

The couple helped a mother and her two children apply over a month ago on March 22, but while Kataryna, 37, had her visa approved this week her four-year-old daughter and son, 14, are still waiting.

The boy is now saying he may return to his father in Ukraine because he has “no confidence in UK government to help them in their times of need”.

Mr Boniface said he and his partner are “at their wits’ end”.

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