Robert Jenrick, a former cabinet minister, has slammed the scheme to resettle Ukrainian refugees as “overly bureaucratic” after becoming the first MP to welcome a Ukrainian family to the UK. According to government figures, approximately 16,400 people had arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes by Monday, with 13,200 arriving under the Ukraine family scheme and 3,200 arriving under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. According to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office, 94,700 applications had been received for both schemes, with 56,500 visas granted as of Thursday.
He called Maria, 40, and her two children, Bohdan, 15, and Khrystyna, 11,’s journey to the UK “traumatic.” The father of the children has remained in Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, as is required by Ukrainian law. “It has been a very difficult experience for them,” he said on the Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast. “Even the experience of coming here was traumatic.” They had waited seven hours at the Polish border before leaving Ukraine and the experiences that they and their relatives had were traumatic, according to Mr. Jenrick. “Truth be told, it has been a bumpy start to the scheme,” he said of the visa process. “It’s taken too long to get visas, for us it took about three weeks to get all three visas approved. There were simple things that we could and should have done from the outset, like having the form in Ukrainian, for example. And I’m not sure whether you need to be doing checks on minors who are extremely unlikely to be threats to this country.” He also admitted that some security checks were required, but added, “The checks need to be done quickly and in this case I’m afraid it has taken too long.” Jenrick stated that he had yet to receive the £350 he is due for hosting the family under the government’s Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme. If he is offered it, he says he will either refuse it or give it to the refugees.
Several MPs and ministers have stated that they have applied for host family placement. Duncan Baker, a Conservative MP, announced earlier this month that he had welcomed a mother and her son. Last month, the environment minister, Victoria Prentis, accepted a 25-year-old Ukrainian refugee under a separate visitor visa scheme. Former health secretary Matt Hancock announced last week that he would house seven Ukrainian refugees in his Suffolk home. Hancock described the visa application process as a “challenge.”
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